Element and the Gamer
by Teen Tyrant
Summary: FINISHED! Two new Titans join the team. One finds his place in life among them, the other may prove to be a problem. Read and review. Flames are welcome.
1. New guys in town

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Description: Two twin brothers named Element and the Gamer join the Teen Titans. With their highly unique powers, they both make great additions to the team. But while Element seems to have found his place on the team, and a little understanding from one Titan in particular, Gamer may turn out to be a problem in the long run for some of the other Titans.

Author's Note: The characters of Element and the Gamer are both my creation and both are based on myself, in physical appearance and in a little bit of their attitudes. Even so, please remember that they are both fictional characters and insights into their psyche in later chapters of this story are not necessarily issues that I have to deal with myself. So please, no reviews filled with sympathy about my life. It's all just a work of fiction after all.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. Since my character the Gamer is able to change into characters from existing videogames, I'm going to put a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter for each game character he turns into. None of them are mine. For this first chapter, _Resident Evil_ is property of Capcom and is not used for any gain. This is a work of fiction. Both Teen Titans and _Resident Evil_ are being used unofficially for pure entertainment purposes.

Wow, long intro. Finally, on to the fic...

* * *

Chapter 1: New guys in town

The sun was shining brightly down on Jump City on this wonderful Saturday morning. Out in the bay, on a small island, stood a tower shaped like a T, and inside this tower, five young superheroes nervously awaited the arrival of their leader.

These young heroes, known to the world as the Teen Titans, were hoping that their plan to have this day off and be "normal" teenagers would come to fruition. Cyborg sat at the end of the couch in the common room, drumming his fingers on the armrest, hoping that Robin would live up to the agreement.

On the other end of the couch sat Beast Boy and his recently returned girlfriend, Terra. Neither of them were really confident that Robin would live up to the agreement. If so, they'd just have to go out on their own later on.

Starfire sat in the middle of the couch, hoping perhaps more than the others that Robin would allow them to spend a normal day in the city. He had been really absorbed in his work lately, even with the recent decline in the crime rate, and she was worried about his state of mind.

Meditating by the window, Raven, in typical Raven style, couldn't care one way or the other whether Robin would allow them a day off or not. If he did, okay, she'd go into town with them. If not, okay, she'd stay here and meditate and then read a book. Big deal.

The door to the common room opened and Robin stepped out. Having woken up later than the others today after a long night of solitary training, he had just showered and was now ready to deal with the whining and begging from his team to let them have the day off. But first, he'd have a little fun with them.

"Morning, everyone." he said to them, before making his way to the kitchen area.

"Good morning, Robin." they all responded, like a class full of children saying good morning to their teacher. Pouring himself a bowl of cereal, Robin ignored their stares and continued to pretend that it was just another typical day. Halfway through eating his cereal, Robin realized that the others had all crowed around the table, staring at him. All except Raven, that was.

He looked up at them. "What?" he asked.

Starfire clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Robin, do you remember what we talked about several days ago? About how we could all use, what you call a 'day off'?" she asked tentatively.

Robin nodded to her. "Yeah, I remember."

Cyborg crossed his arms. "And remember how you said that if the crime rate stayed low until Saturday, you'd consider letting us all spend the day in the city as normal kids and let any problems that might come up be handled by the authorities for a change?" he asked his friend.

Again, Robin nodded. "Yeah, I remember that too."

Beast Boy and Terra leaned in. "Well-" Beast Boy began.

Terra finished for him. "Those conditions have been met. So can we do it?" she asked.

Robin put his hand under his chin and seemed to be in deep thought for a moment or two. Then he looked up at his friends with a serious expression.

"Sure." he said.

"Oh, come on-!"

"But you said-!"

"Please, please, please-!"

"Dude, that's so unfair-!" Then…

"Wait, what!" they all asked at once.

Robin smiled. "I said, 'sure'. We can have today off. As long as no major villains attack, like Slade or Killer Moth, we won't be superheroes today. What? Did you guys think I'd say no?" he asked.

"Um… yeah." Beast Boy answered.

--

It was almost noon, and the Titans had all gathered at their favorite pizza place. Terra especially liked this, as she had never had a chance to eat here with the Titans before.

After her memory had finally returned, along with her powers, she had gone back to the tower, thinking she'd never be welcome again, but needing to know just the same. To her astonishment, they all seemed to want her back. Even Raven, who had given her something of a cold shoulder at first, had seemed to accept her completely after a few days.

Now, almost a month later, she was just hanging out in town with them like she had always been part of the team. And she couldn't thank Beast Boy enough for it. He had tried so hard to make her feel welcome, to make her feel needed.

Turning to him now, she held up a piece of pizza to him. "Another slice of mushroom and cheese, BB?" she asked him sweetly.

Beast Boy's eyebrows went up and down. "Sure." he said smoothly, taking her offering.

Cyborg couldn't help but chuckle. "Aww, isn't that sweet. You two are just as hopeless for each other as Robin and Star, you know that?" he asked, hearing Robin immediately cough as he began choking on his pizza.

Beast Boy and Terra both turned interesting shades of red.

"You know, Cyborg," Raven began in her usual monotone voice, "You and BumbleBee have been known to get a little googoo-eyed yourselves.".

This caused the human side of Cyborg's face to turn red, and Beast Boy and Terra started to return his earlier chuckle.

_Now he knows what its like. _Robin thought. He watched as Starfire poured a little more mustard onto her pizza.

As nice as all this was, the chance for a normal day that the Titans were hoping for was about to be dashed. A high-pitched, arrogant sounding voice suddenly rang out through the air.

"Hey, scrum buffers! Hope we're interrupting."

The Titans all dropped their slices of pizza and went to the edge of the roof of the pizza joint and looked down at the street. Down below, looking up at them, obviously ready to start trouble, were Gizmo, Jinx (wasn't she supposed to have joined Kid Flash?), Mammoth, See-More, and Billy Numerous.

Cyborg whined, "Aw man, why couldn't these guys wait until tomorrow to mess around?".

Robin frowned down at their old enemies. "Titans, move." he ordered. He, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Terra all jumped down to the concrete sidewalk below and faced the five young villains who stood in the middle of the street. Starfire and Raven both floated above and behind their friends, Starfire's eyes already glowing green.

Robin stared right at his enemies. "You know, there are six of us now. You couldn't beat us when it was fair, and now we've got you outnumbered. So why don't you take the easy way out and just leave now, before this turns ugly." he suggested to them.

Billy Numerous addressed them in his hillbilly accent. "I think y'all are forgettin' something." he said. Billy then multiplied himself into five separate entities. "Now we've got y'all outnumbered."

Jinx smiled at the Titans. "We've been doing some serious training since our last battle. Now we're ready to take you down once and for all."

Gizmo smirked. "So get ready to have your sorry butts kicked good!" The Hive Five took their fighting stances.

Robin pulled out his staff and extended it. "Titans-" he began.

"Hold it!" a shout rang out. Both the Titans and the Hive team all looked down the street, where the shout had come from.

Walking down the middle of the street, straight towards the two teams, were two boys. They were obviously twin brothers. They both looked to be about Robin's age, around sixteen years old. They had green eyes and brown hair, combed and parted neatly. Both of them wore jeanshorts and plain white tennis shoes. The one on the right wore a plain red shirt; the one on the left wore a plain gray shirt.

Both teams looked on this pair in puzzlement.

"Who are these two jerks?" Mammoth asked in his deep, gruff voice.

The boy in the red shirt smirked in a cocky I-know-something-you-don't manner. The boy in gray simply frowned at them, almost seeming to scowl.

"We're your worst nightmare." the boy in red answered Mammoth.

Robin didn't know what these guys thought they were doing, but they were going to get hurt if they didn't back off from the Hive team. "You guys get back, now. You don't know what these guys can do." he said to them, wondering why they didn't take the hint of the battle that was about to take place. Surely they recognized the Titans.

Red shirt looked at him. "Take it easy, Robin. We know who these dudes are. We've done our research. Trust me; _they_ are the ones who don't know who they're messing with. And I'm not talking about you Titans." he said, rather smugly. However, there seemed to be just a hint of nervousness in his voice. Not fear, just nervousness, like he was about to try something he knew he could do, yet had never done before and still had some doubt.

The boy in the gray shirt finally spoke up. "You Hive guys had better just go. Even if you do manage to take us down, there's still the Titans to deal with. You have no chance of winning here unless you've got a nuke hidden somewhere on you. And that's not likely." This boy spoke in a different tone. His voice seemed to be slathered with distain and resentment, like he held a grudge against something.

Gizmo had had enough. He didn't know who these two dorks were, but they didn't know who they were dealing with. And one look at them told him that they couldn't defend themselves against the Hive Five. Even that wimp Beast Boy looked more threatening.

"Alright, that's it. These snot munchers are going to get it first. Then we'll take the Titans." Gizmo declared.

The boy in the red shirt grinned at Gizmo. "You're the tech-boy, right? You've probably played a lot of videogames. Tell me, have you played _Resident Evil_?" he asked.

Gizmo cocked his eyebrow beneath his goggles. What did that have to do with anything?

"Yeah, I've played it. And it stinks!" he shouted back.

Suddenly the grin dropped off the red shirt boy's face.

"What!" he said, clearly angered by this response.

The boy in the gray shirt shook his head. "Oh boy. You don't know how bad you just messed up, kid. Saying that _Resident Evil_ stinks? Why didn't you just tell a redneck that NASCAR sucks? It would have been a lot less painful." he said, sounding bored and irritated at the same time.

His brother reached behind him and pulled something out of his back pocket. Holding it in front of him, everyone could see that it was a controller of some kind.

Cyborg nudged Beast Boy. "Isn't that an N64 controller?" he asked.

Starfire was confused. "What are these boys attempting to do?" she asked.

"I don't know," Terra responded. "But their about to get their butts kicked. We'd better attack now, while the Hive Five is distracted."

Raven, who had been listening closely to the tones of the two boys' voices, knew different.

"No. They're not. They're hiding something. Something big. I think the Hive Five is in more trouble than they are."

Robin turned to look at her. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

Raven shook her head. "I don't know, but I think we're all about to find out.".

Gizmo looked at the game console controller that the kid held in his hand.

"What's that?" he asked mockingly.

The red shirt kid grinned again. "The source of my power, and your immediate pounding. I hope you have a first aid kit in that backpack of yours, because you're about to be in some serious pain you little midget." he said.

The boy then began to push the buttons on the controller in a seemingly random manner, while rotating the control stick with his thumb. After pushing all the buttons in whatever inconceivable pattern he was using, the boy then pushed the START button in the middle of the controller.

The boy was immediately consumed in a brilliant white light. The Titans and the Hive team could all see that something was happening in the middle of that light, but they could not see what it was. Then the light suddenly winked out.

The boy was no longer standing there. In his place stood a humanoid creature that was ten feet tall. It wore no clothes and seemed to be genderless. Its skin was as white as a fish's belly, with red veins coursing along it. Its right hand looked normal, while its left hand was huge, looking as big as Cyborg's torso. Its fingers were tipped with six inch claws. Its heart was outside its body, on the right side, pulsing in rhythm. The face had two dead-looking eyes, covered over with cataracts. It had no lips, and its teeth were exposed in a sick smile.

As both teams looked on this abomination, they all felt a measure of fear. "W-what… what is that thang?" Billy Numerous asked, shaking.

Gizmo was also shaking. "Its- it's the Tyrant! The final boss in _Resident Evil_!" he answered in fear.

The boy in the gray shirt stood behind the creature that his brother had transformed into. "I'd run, if I were you." he said.

Mammoth stepped forward and took a fighting stance. "The Hive Five never runs." he said. Gizmo extended his mechanical legs and lifted himself off the ground. Billy and his four copies gathered around Gizmo and Mammoth, ready to combat this new threat.

With a roar, the Tyrant rushed forward, running unbelievably fast for a creature of its size. With a single swipe of its huge claw, the Tyrant hit Mammoth right in the chest before he had a chance to do anything. Mammoth was picked up by the force of the blow and went flying through the air, landing several city blocks away.

Turning to Gizmo, the Tyrant slashed with its claw, shredding Gizmo's mechanical legs like paper. As the small villain fell to the ground, he was caught by the Tyrant's "normal" hand. Then the Tyrant flung Gizmo in the direction that it had knocked Mammoth, and Gizmo sailed out of sight.

All five Billys then jumped on the Tyrant, trying to tackle it down.

While the other boys had tried to deal with the Tyrant, Jinx and See-More had circled around and now faced the other boy.

"So, let's see what you can do." Jinx said to him, mockingly.

Extending a hand, she shot a pink arc towards a telephone pole. Suddenly, the wires at the top broke free in a shower of sparks and, defying the laws of physics, began to swing towards the middle of the street, straight at the boy in the gray shirt.

"If you insist." said the boy. Reaching out with his arm, he caught the live wire in his bare hand, the exposed part of the wire against his palm. Jinx winced, expecting to see him fry before her eyes under the electric current.

Instead, although the electricity swam through him, he seemed to be unaffected. More than that, his body began to change. His flesh took on the form of the electricity that was pouring into him! In seconds, the boy was gone and in his place was a somewhat humanoid creature made purely out of electricity. Jinx immediately thought of Overload.

Dropping the telephone wire and raising a crackling blue hand, the electro-boy extended the power current his body was now made of and struck Jinx in the chest, giving her enough juice to singe her, but not really hurt her. Jinx screamed as the power poured into her.

"Jinx!" See-More yelled. Turning to the thing in a sudden rage, he fired a laser beam from his eye. It hit the electro-kid, causing the electric current of his body to crackle loudly for a moment, but having no other noticeable effect. The electro-boy raised his other hand and See-More fell victim to the same strike as Jinx.

Adding a little more power into the attack, the electro-boy zapped See-More and Jinx into the air, where they flew away in the same direction as Gizmo and Mammoth.

Flinging all the Billys off of its body, the Tyrant back handed one of them, knocking it back into another and another. All five Billys collided, causing them to form back into one. Reaching down with its right hand, the Tyrant gripped Billy Numerous by the throat and hurled him through the air to join his other fallen teammates several blocks away.

The Teen Titans, having watched this rather short and one-sided battle, now faced the Tyrant and the electro-boy, ready to fight if needed. Cyborg activated his sonic cannon. Beast Boy turned into a green gorilla. Terra's hands and eyes glowed yellow, while Starfire's glowed green. Raven's eyes showed just the faintest hint of a red light in them.

Walking up next to each other, the two inhuman creatures turned to the Titans. Suddenly, the electricity around the boy in the gray shirt faded away and he stood before them, normal again.

The Tyrant was enveloped in that bizarre white light again, and when it faded, he too was returned to his original human form. The game controller, which had disappeared along with the boy during his transformation, was now back in his hand.

"Ta da!" the boy in red exclaimed before bowing to the astonished Titans.

Robin retracted his staff and put it back into his belt. "Ooookay. Who are you guys? And what do you want?" he asked them.

The boy in the gray shirt answered him, waving a hand at himself, then at his brother.

"We are Element and the Gamer. Our real names are Kyle and Cody. We're twin brothers, in case you couldn't tell." he said, seeming to be uncomfortable talking to them casually about their identities.

Gamer continued. "Yeah, we just got here in Jump City the other day. We're kinda on our own. After we got our powers, our family thought it would be best if we went somewhere else for a while. Everyone in our neighborhood seemed kind of freaked out with us around." He looked a little sad saying this part, but then he brightened again.

"We've got some cool powers though. I can turn into any character from any videogame ever made. I don't know how or why, but I somehow know the code that's needed to change into it. So-" he held up his controller, "I punch it into the buttons, hit the START, then bingo; I'm a living, breathing videogame! I can be a boss, a gamesprite, or even the user character. I also get all the abilities and weapons of those characters!" he said excitedly, clearly trying to show off and be impressive.

Element rolled his eyes at his brother's eagerness for attention. "I can form my body into, or join with, the elements of all things." After saying this, his feet suddenly changed and melded to the asphalt of the street that he was standing on.

Terra's eyes went wide at this. "Whoa!"

After a moment, Element's feet changed back to normal. "I can slip into the element of a surface and pop up anywhere else on that surface. Or I can add things to myself, like a pile of bricks, becoming a brick-pile monster."

All the Titans were wide-eyed at this. "Those do sound like cool powers." Cyborg said, clearly impressed.

Beast Boy was curious. "So why are you guys here?" he asked.

The Gamer stepped forward. "We came to meet you guys. We've been fans of the Teen Titans for a long time." He stuck out his arm and shook hands all around. "Robin. Cyborg. Beast Boy. Terra. Raven."

Coming to Starfire, he stopped and stared at her for a moment, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"Hello Starfire. I've been wanting to meet you since I first saw you on the news. You're my favorite Titan. This is a huge honor. I'm probably your biggest fan." he said, and put out his hand.

Starfire smiled and shook his hand in return. "Thank you very much! I did not know that I had any 'fans'. Tell me, do you wish to be my friend?" she asked excitedly.

Gamer nearly jumped into the air. "Of course I would! You… you guys are all the reason Element and I decided to come to Jump City."

Robin detected the tone of Gamer's voice, and couldn't help thinking that meeting one particular Titan had been the reason behind Gamer's desire to come to their city.

Element stepped forward, shaking hands around as well, although saying nothing more than "hi.". He clearly was not very comfortable with this, either shy or distrusting of people. But as he reached out to shake the last Titan's hand, Raven's hand, he seemed to brighten just the slightest bit.

"Hi Raven." he said, then quickly let go and turned away. Everyone noticed this subtle change, especially Raven.

Cyborg spoke up. "So, now you've met us. You want our autographs or something?"

Gamer turned to him. "No. Actually… we were kinda hoping to join you guys. You know, become Teen Titans.".

Robin looked ready to say something, but before he could, Element held up his hand.

"First, we know that we can't just expect you to accept us in right away. We're not asking to immediately move in with you guys. We just want a chance you show you what we can do and how we could help you if you let us join. You already saw a small example of our powers."

Gamer continued for his brother. "Yeah, give us a few more chances to prove ourselves to you, then decide if you want us. We'll be around. If there's any trouble, we'll help you out. I suppose we'll see you guys later. Come on, Kyle."

He turned around and started walking down the street, then stopped and turned back around to wave.

"It was nice to meet you, Starfire!" he yelled. Starfire waved back.

"It was nice meeting you as well." she said, then giggled that wonderful giggle of hers. Gamer almost tripped over himself upon hearing that melodious sound.

Element started to follow him, but then turned his head back around and looked at all of the Titans, his eyes remaining on Raven a moment longer than the others.

"Bye." he said, then continued following his brother. His tone suggested that he might have wanted to add a name after that, but none of the Titans could tell for sure. A few suspected, however, that he did. It was clear that both brothers had their own particular reasons for wanting to come to Jump City and join the Titans.

"Well, those guys were pretty cool." Terra said with a smile.

Beast Boy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and they've got some awesome powers too. They might be a big help to us if they did join."

Robin, still thinking of the attention that the Gamer had been showing Starfire, wasn't so sure he liked the idea.

Starfire beamed. "Oh, it would be wonderful if our new friends could join us. They are our fans." she said happily.

Robin sighed. "Yeah, they might be a help to us. But I'm not so sure we should make our decision just yet. We'll need to see what else they can do. One thing is for sure; those guys are going to make things a bit more interesting around here."

Raven nodded. "No doubts there." She said.

* * *

End of chapter 1. I hope my new characters are interesting enough for you to want to read more. Please review!

In the next chapter, the Titans are called away to deal with some old foes. But when Element and the Gamer show up to help, what could have been a losing battle turns into an incredible triumph. The Titans must now start to seriously consider allowing the two brothers to join them.

Plenty of action and hints at future relationships are to be found in the next installment, Element and the Gamer Chapter 2: Battle for membership.

See you guys then!


	2. Battle for membership

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Author's note: For future reference, I'd like to make something clear about my character the Gamer. While I am willing to take suggestions from readers as to some of the videogame characters you'd like to see him become, there is a limitation I must place on him. Gamer will not, at any time in the course of this fic, become a character from a franchise that the game is based on if the separate franchise is more popular than the game itself. For example, Gamer will not be turning into Anakin Skywalker from a Star Wars game, or Goku from a DragonBall Z game, or Spiderman. However, characters from games that are more successful than the actual franchise are accepted, as fans will more likely recognize the characters from the games than the franchise, like the Turok games. The best suggestions that you can make are from original games, where the characters in the game were created for the game and do not appear in comics or movies, etc. The only exception I might make to this is that later on in the fic, I might use the soon-arriving Teen Titans game. It would be cool to see Gamer become one of the other Titans as a videogame character. Other than that, try to make any suggestions be from original games, and I'm not making any promises that I'll use that suggested character, but I will consider all suggestions seriously.

Special thanks go to InnocentStarintheAnimeSky, Agent of the Divine One and Death Jester for their supportive and encouraging reviews to the first chapter of this story. Thanks you guys!

Gamer disclaimer: While I own a copy of _Turok 2: Seeds of Evil_ I do not own the rights to the game. That would be Acclaim Entertainment Austin. Oh, and We Will Rock You is a song by Queen. And of course, I don't own Teen Titans either.

* * *

Chapter 2: Battle for membership

Two days had passed since the Hive Five's "battle" with Element and the Gamer.

Robin had just finished showering and was now heading to the roof of the Tower, where he usually spent the morning before Cyborg and Beast Boy made breakfast. He liked to watch the sunrise, but what was even better, was that Starfire would often join him in watching it. He enjoyed sneaking glances at her with the light of the morning sun shining on her.

As he opened the door and stepped out onto the roof, he was surprised to find Starfire already sitting by the edge. "Starfire? You're up earlier than usual." he commented. Starfire turned to him and smiled. "Oh, I slept very deeply last night, so I was awake sooner than I normally am. I came up here to wait for you." she said.

Robin was astounded. _She was waiting for me?_ He knew that Starfire cared about him a lot, but he didn't know how far to read into this gesture. He decided not to read too far into it. She probably just wanted to watch the sunrise too and knew that he usually came up here.

He sat down beside her and looked to the horizon, sneaking careful peeks at her now and then, so as not to let her know he was looking. She looked gorgeous. The sunlight shining on her from this particular angle and with early morning intensity made her hair look like fire and made her eyes sparkle like they really were emeralds.

In recent months, he'd admitted to himself that she was more than just a friend to him; he'd accepted that he did like her. Perhaps even loved her, although since he'd never experienced the feeling before, he couldn't be sure. He really wanted to tell her how he felt, so he could find out how she felt about him, but something kept holding him back. He didn't know what it was.

Sure, there was the fear that he might ruin their friendship. There was the fact that he had been alone and drawn into himself for so long that he might not know how to open himself up to someone like that. And of course, let's not forget that he'd really like to avoid the massive amount of teasing from Cyborg, Beast Boy and Terra, which would inevitably follow such a confession.

However, while all of those probably played some part in his reserve, he didn't think that any of them were what was really holding him back.

"Robin?" Starfire asked, a little concerned.

"Huh?" he responded. Oops, he'd zoned out a little there. _Thinking too hard Robin, not good when she's right here to see the effect._ "Sorry, just thinking. What was it you said?" he asked her.

Starfire repeated, "I said that friends Cyborg and Beast Boy have probably finished preparing the breakfast. Shall we go down and join them?"

Robin nodded. "Sure." He stood up, then reached down to take her hand and pull her to her feet. She smiled at him, then he released her hand and they began walking down stairs.

After breakfast, and the usual Tofu vs. Real Food bickering of their friends, the Titans were all just lounging around in the living room. Raven and Robin were both reading, Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing Gamestation, and Terra and Starfire were having a discussion about fashion.

At around eleven o'clock, the alarm rang. The Titans all sat up straight, then got up and ran to the alert screen to see what the emergency was. When they saw why the alarm had been sounded, they all gasped and said a collective "Oh no." This was not good. In fact, this was the worst.

------

The people who had been walking along the streets near the construction site in Jump City were now running from it in all directions, fearing for their lives. In the middle of the construction site, where only twenty minutes ago construction workers had been working away as usual, were two of Jump City's greatest criminals.

Cinderblock and Plasmus had trashed the area where most of the workers had been and had created quite a ruckus, as were their orders. The two fiends usually only took orders from one particular individual, but if there was any doubt as to who their commander was, that doubt was quickly tossed away with a look at the beings that accompanied Cinderblock and Plasmus.

With them were about thirty robots that looked like ninjas. They were dressed mostly in black, with some silver lining on the arms and legs. Their heads were as smooth and black as bowling balls, except for a copper-colored circle on the facial area.

Cinderblock, Plasmus and the robots were all just standing around, awaiting the arrival of the Teen Titans, just as they had been ordered to do. They did not have to wait very long.

After pulling up in the T-car (which had been feeling pretty cramped since Terra's return) and waiting for Cyborg to put on all of the many locking mechanisms he had for it, the Titans rushed onto the grounds of the construction site and took their fighting stances, prepared to do battle.

Cyborg activated his sonic cannon. Starfire's eyes glowed green. Terra pulled her goggles down over her eyes. Beast Boy stood ready to change into whatever animal the situation would require. Raven made note of all the equipment she could use to throw at her enemies. Robin pulled out his staff and extended it.

"Okay, if you guys tell us what Slade sent you out here to do, we may just go easy on you." Robin said. Immediately, all the Slade-bots leaped forward to battle the Titans.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled his trademark battle-cry. Running forward, he began swinging his staff around, knocking another robot to the ground with every swing.

Terra grinned. "Let's rock!" she said, her eyes and fists glowing yellow. She lifted all the rocks and hunks of concrete around her into the air and hurled them forward, each one smashing a robot into junk.

Beast Boy morphed into a green tiger and leaped into the center of a group of robots, where he began to swat and slash away at them, tearing most of them to pieces. One robot got behind him and jumped into the air, ready to cut him up with the razor-like fingers on its hands. Just before it landed on his back, a blast of blue energy hit it in the chest, knocking it away to slam into an unfinished wall.

Cyborg lowered his cannon. "Boo-yah!" he hollered. Beast Boy nodded his tiger's head in a show of gratitude to his friend, before returning to the battle.

Starfire floated above the battle, shooting her starbolts and eyebolts at any robot that wasn't standing too close to her friends.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" Raven spoke her mantra. A cement mixer was coated in dark energy and lifted into the air. Positioning it over a trio of robots, Raven brought it slamming down on them, reducing them to scrap.

_This is too easy. Why aren't Cinderblock and Plasmus attacking?_ Robin wondered.

Indeed, throughout this easy battle, Cinderblock and Plasmus remained standing in the middle of the construction site, watching them. Both of them wanted to attack. They had scores to settle with the Titans and would enjoy every minute of pounding them into the dust. But Slade's orders had been clear; the Titans were not their targets, and neither of them dared go against Slade's instructions.

All the robots now backed off from the fight and gathered in front of Cinderblock and Plasmus. The Titans, puzzled, regrouped and turned to face them. Beast Boy changed back to human, and Starfire landed on the ground.

"Why have they stopped fighting? And what are those two freaks waiting for?" Cyborg asked.

Robin frowned. "I don't know. I don't understand why Slade sent them here. There's nothing special about this construction site."

Raven spoke. "Nothing special that we know of. This is Slade we're talking about. Nothing is what it seems."

That turned out to be true, as the robot at the head of the group suddenly pulled a round object out from behind its back. About the size of a softball, it was black and had a few blinking lights on it, surrounding a large red button.

Cyborg's jaw fell open and a single drop of sweat rolled down the human side of his head. "A molecular detonator! This isn't good!"

Starfire was worried by the fear in Cyborg's voice. "What does that device do?" she asked, afraid to learn the answer.

Cyborg answered gravely. "It sends out a pulse wave that breaks down the molecules of any substance it's been set to. Want to bet that Slade's had it programmed to break down living tissue? If that thing goes off, all of us will be turned into goo in seconds."

Beast Boy's eyebrows went up. "That's not good." he said.

At that moment, the robot pushed the button on the detonator and threw it at the Titans. It bounced on the ground and rolled to a stop five feet in front of them. The Titans all gasped.

"Titans, get back!" Robin shouted. Raven put up a shield of her dark energy, hoping that it would be enough to protect them from the blast.

And then, the Titans felt the ground ripple slightly under their feet. Looking down, they all saw something very strange. An image seemed to be formed out of the ground under their feet.

For a bare second, they all thought they saw the small cracks in the ground, as well as the dust and pebbles lying about, all form the shape of a person. Robin thought that it was like those stories about people finding the faces of religious figures in a piece of bread or the bark of a tree. The ground below them now seemed to hold the shape of a human figure. It was there for a moment, then it was gone.

Looking at the bomb lying in front of them, the Titans all saw that the image had moved under Raven's shield and was now under the bomb. They all watched as a hand formed out of the ground, a human hand. In the space of a second, the dirt that the hand seemed to be made out of changed into flesh. They watched as the arm the hand was attached to grew up out of the ground, followed by a head, torso, legs.

Element held the bomb in his grip, pulled his arm back and threw the bomb into the air, reaching an impressive height and distance with his throw. A few seconds later, the bomb detonated harmlessly, creating a blinding blue light for a moment, then fading out into nothing.

Element turned to the astonished Titans. "You guys looked like you had it under control, but we figured you could use some help at this point." he said in his bored who-cares tone of voice.

Then, a very large bird that didn't look like anything Beast Boy had ever turned into, landed next to Element. In a flash of brilliant white light, the bird disappeared and before them stood the Gamer, holding onto his N64 controller.

"We told you we'd be around to help." he said, grinning.

With their targets now in sight, Cinderblock and Plasmus both took a fighting stance. The Titans gathered around Element and the Gamer and faced their enemies.

Looking at their foes all the while, Robin spoke to the brothers. "Alright, you guys want to show us what you can do, here's your chance. Help us take these guys down and we'll consider letting you join us."

Gamer pumped his fist into the air. "Yes!"

Turning to his brother, Element said, "Gamer, better go with the PJ."

Gamer's face fell. "Already? But I wanted to save that for a special battle." he seemed to whine.

Element sighed. "You want to impress these guys, right?" he asked, jerking his thumb at the Titans.

Looking over at Starfire, then back to his twin, Gamer nodded. "Yeah."

Element said, "Then show them your best right now. We go full out on this, no room for questioning. We're either accepted as Titans after this, or we are never going to be."

Gamer sighed. "Alright then.". He then moved a little bit away from the group and began pushing buttons on his controller while rotating the thumb stick.

Cyborg leaned in to ask Element, "What's the PJ?"

Element remained focused on the villains in front of them, but answered Cyborg's question. "Pur-linn Juggernaut, from Turok 2. Its Gamer's favorite battle form."

Having finished the complicated pattern of button pushing, the Gamer hit the START button on his controller and was consumed in the white light that signaled his transformation. When the light faded, there stood the Pur-linn Juggernaut, and it was immediately clear why it was his favorite.

Standing nine feet tall, this creature looked like a gorilla with reptile skin instead of fur. Covering its massive torso, head and shoulders was a layer of metal armor. Two red eyes looked out from beneath the armored helmet it wore. In its right hand was a blade that was as long as Cyborg was tall and was as wide as his shoulders. Built into its grip was what looked like a blaster.

"_Okay, I'm ready to party!"_ said a voice in all their heads.

Beast Boy put his hands to his ears, as if he had actually heard the voice. "Whoa, what was that?" he asked.

Element answered. "Gamer has to communicate telepathically when he's a character that didn't have speaking parts in a game."

Seeing that their opponents were ready to fight at last, Cinderblock and Plasmus sprang forward, a number of robots following in the wake of both of them.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted. The Titans and their two guests ran forward to meet the challenge, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Gamer running to meet Plasmus, while Raven, Beast Boy, Terra and Element stood their ground against Cinderblock.

Starfire began shooting some of the robots surrounding Plasmus with her starbolts and was soon joined by the Gamer, who began shooting with the blaster built into the hilt of the blade he held.

Cyborg began blasting at Plasmus' sewage-formed hide while Robin struck him again and again with his staff, knocking great globs of gunk from him with each strike. Now that the other Titans had joined in fighting him, Plasmus was now free to attack them as well as his ordered targets, the two new boys.

Terra had attempted to lift Cinderblock with her power, as he was made out of rock, but had failed. Apparently, her powers did not work against a _living_ rock. Raven hurled a steel girder that she had lifted from one of the buildings under construction. The beam hit Cinderblock, but it bent on contact with him and he knocked it away, continuing his charge.

Beast Boy turned into a bear and stood between Cinderblock and Terra, determined to defend her. Swiping a paw at Cinderblock, Beast Boy's strike was blocked and he was hurled aside like a teddy bear.

"Beast Boy!" Terra yelled, seeing her boyfriend flung aside. Terra charged her power, ready to fling as many rocks as she could summon at Cinderblock, when she noticed something odd. Where was Element?

Suddenly, she saw that weird image on the ground again, like the ground happened to form the outline of a person. The image was skipping from one spot to another, moving towards Cinderblock. She got it then; Element had formed himself back into the ground.

Element's image stopped just in front of Cinderblock, who looked down at it curiously, recognizing it as his target, but unsure of how he was supposed to attack the ground. Then the ground beneath him seemed to stretch upward, forming a fist out of dirt that extended from the ground. The fist connected just below his chin, knocking him back a step. He wasn't hurt, but the attack had caught him off guard. The attacking fist of dirt and the arm it was attached to both slipped back into the ground again.

Seeing the image of the boy shaped into the ground, Cinderblock lifted his foot and stomped down on that spot, creating a big cloud of dust as a result. Beast Boy climbed to his feet and looked at Cinderblock in time to see something incredible.

The dust surrounding the villain began to swirl around for a moment, before seeming to come together in a somewhat humanoid shape. Raven had also noticed and realized right away what had happened; Element had slipped out of the ground and formed himself into the dust cloud that Cinderblock had kicked up.

Element punched his enemy in the face with a fist made of swirling dust. There was no impact, however. Instead, Cinderblock squinted his eyes, then started coughing and gagging, blinded by and choking on the dust that swirled about his head. As he struggled with Element, the last few robots that had backed him up attacked the other Titans. Beast Boy and Terra met them in battle and started taking them out.

Raven, deciding to lend Element a hand, concentrated her power. "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" she shouted, and fired a beam of her dark energy like a battering ram. The energy hit Cinderblock in the chest, sending him flying into the structure of a building that the construction people had been working on. Scaffolding and steel girders fell down around Cinderblock, burying him.

Gamer and Starfire were finishing with the last of Slade's ninja robots. Gamer used his huge Pur-linn blade to slice the last two he was facing into two halves each. Starfire punched her last opponent, reducing it to scrap with her unmatched Tamaranian strength. Gamer watched this with great interest, and considered complimenting her on her strength, but decided that the situation at hand needed addressing first.

Cyborg and Robin were keeping Plasmus off balance, each one attacking whenever the blob creature went after the other. However, Plasmus seemed to be trying to get past them to where Starfire and the Gamer had been fighting the robots.

Starfire flew above her two teammates and zapped Plasmus with her eyebolts, while Gamer shot at it with his blaster. The two beams of green energy blasted a few pieces from Plasmus and left a couple of impressive holes. However, Plasmus healed himself instantly and charged at the Gamer.

Ready to meet this challenge, Gamer leaped forward and landed right in front of Plasmus and began hacking away at the messy creature with his enormous sword. "_Arrrrraaah!" _his telepathic battle-cry rang in the minds of the other Titans. His blade would slice through Plasmus easily, sending great globs of him everywhere, but Plasmus would slurp himself into a whole being again.

Plasmus, meanwhile, was able to hit the videogame hero with his mucus, but Gamer's attack was so vicious that he wasn't giving Plasmus enough time to slurp under his Pur-linn armor and pour his sludge into his mouth and nostrils to drown him. The two towering combatants were both at a stalemate, neither of them doing any real damage to the other.

"We need to end this!" Robin shouted above the noise. He then threw one of his discs into Plasmus' sludgy form. When it detonated, the entire right half of Plasmus' body froze solid.

Cyborg grinned. "Perfect." he said, before firing his sonic cannon at the frozen half of Plasmus' head. The frozen head and right shoulder shattered into a million pieces.

Gamer then swung his sword down and hacked off the lower part of the frozen sludge. Plasmus' other half swayed for a moment, before flowing and shaping itself into a full body again.

Looking at the pile of metal which fell on top of Cinderblock, Beast Boy turned to his girlfriend. "Go ahead Terra." he said to her.

Terra smiled at him, then focused her power. Large rocks were pulled up from the loose earth buried all around the construction site. Terra brought all the rocks together and suspended them above her, ready to send them over to where Cinderblock lay and crash them down on him.

Suddenly, the pile of metal exploded outward as Cinderblock flung the steel beams away from himself. One of them went flying very close to Terra and struck a glancing blow against her head, not hurting her, but stunning her momentarily.

"Terra!" Beast Boy screamed as she fell back into his arms, dazed. Her hold on the rocks broken, the whole bunch of them began to fall… right on top of Beast Boy and Terra. Looking up at the face of doom, Beast Boy knew that he couldn't get himself and Terra away in time.

Then there seemed to be a lot of dust around him for some reason. "Look out!" Element yelled as he formed himself back into a human right next to the pair, pushing them out of the way.

The rocks dropped down on Element in a big pile, burying him. "Element! No!" Beast Boy yelled. There was no way he could have survived, each one of those rocks was as big as a grapefruit, and with that many of them, the weight would have crushed a human body into a real mess.

Regaining her focus, Terra looked at the pile of rocks, feeling the guilt of what happened. "No." said hopelessly.

Then the rocks all started moving. The entire pile seemed to shift and ripple as the rocks began clacking against each other. They began to form to a humanoid shape! A group of them at the top formed a face.

"I told you I could add things to myself when I formed to the elements. I'll just use these rocks to beat _that_ one." he said, his voice sounding perfectly normal, oddly enough. With the clattering sound of a hundred rocks banging together with movement, Element lumbered past the stunned Beast Boy and Terra and stood facing Cinderblock.

Raven floated down beside her two friends, looking at Element in awe. He had just put his life on the line for two people he didn't really even know. Then he had shrugged it off as if it were nothing special. If there was any doubt that this boy and his brother were Titan material, it was gone now, in Raven's mind anyway. Someone who would do something like that was a true hero.

As she looked at him in his rock form, Raven could swear that she could still see the real Element. If she looked at him just right, like out of the corner of her eye, or by trying to look at him with her eyes crossed, he seemed to still be there. Like she could see the real boy _within_ the rocks themselves. It was as if the rocks had formed to his features, even his clothes, while still looking like rocks. It was confusing, even to her. She didn't know how to describe it.

Raven, Beast Boy and Terra watched as Element and Cinderblock stared each other down. One, a superhero who had formed to the element of stone and had joined a pile of stones together to make one fighting body. The other, a criminal made entirely of solid stone.

Beast Boy couldn't resist. "We will, we will, rock you!" he sang out. Terra giggled. She loved that song.

Cinderblock charged at Element. Element punched with his right fist, connecting solidly with Cinderblock's face, making a sound like… well… like rock hitting rock. Cinderblock countered by swinging a fist of his own. The punch tore off Element's head, scattering the rocks it was made of. However, Element merely pulled smaller rocks below his feet into his body and, after rearranging the ones already in his body, reformed himself, all in the space of a second.

Cinderblock attempted to punch again, but this time, Element was ready. Grabbing Cinderblock's hand with his own, Element turned his body around and threw Cinderblock up over his shoulder and onto the ground. His hands in contact with Cinderblock's body, Element let all the rocks he was currently made of fall to the ground and stood with his regular body, now made entirely out of stone, just like Cinderblock. Even his clothes were made of rock. Raising his regular-sized but solid stone fist, Element punched Cinderblock in the face, laying him out, stone cold.

Plasmus made one final charge at the Gamer, but before he could engage him in battle again, Robin threw another of his exploding discs. This one burst in a glaring light that blinded Plasmus. Shrieking at the temporary loss of his vision, Plasmus was defenseless against Gamer's final attack.

Sweeping upward with his sword, Gamer caught Plasmus in the face with the flat side of his huge blade. Plasmus was knocked back, where he landed on a steel girder that happened to be lying on top of a large piece of discarded concrete. Walking around the downed sludge beast, Gamer brought his sword down on the other side with all the strength of the Pur-linn Juggernaut that made him so proud.

Like a house being dropped on a see-saw, the steel beam flipped Plasmus a good hundred feet into the air, before he reached the pinnacle of his ascent and began to plummet back to earth.

"_Cyborg, now!"_ Gamer shouted to his mechanical companion. Picking up another steel beam, Cyborg stood in the spot where it looked like Plasmus was going to land.

"Batter up!" Cyborg yelled, before swinging as hard as he could. The steel beam hit the living wade of mucus with a loud and disgusting SPLAT! and hurled Plasmus across the construction site, where he landed next to Cinderblock's unconscious form. After a moment, Plasmus' body shifted to that of a human. He was out.

Starfire threw her hands in the air. "We are victorious!" she shouted in glee.

Robin had to give credit where it was due. "And it was an awesome victory. You guys really kicked butt." he said. Raven, Beast Boy, Terra and Element all rejoined the others, Element now back to full human.

"Yeah, Element here saved me and Beast Boy. And he didn't even get a scratch from it. You guys are fantastic!" Terra informed them with great enthusiasm.

Gamer was suddenly consumed in the familiar bright light. Again, the Titans could see something happening in the center of that light, but what they saw was anybody's guess. When the light faded, the Pur-linn Juggernaut was gone and the Gamer stood normal again. He tucked his controller into the back pocket of his jeanshorts.

"Ah, we're just rookies at this. You guys would have still wiped the floor up with them, even without us. But thanks."

Turning to Starfire, he continued. "Starfire, I had no idea you were _that_ strong. I mean, I'd heard that you were powerful, but dang! You could probably have taken both of those guys and all those robots by yourself!" he said, trying to compliment her as best he could.

Starfire blushed and moved up to him. "Thank you. You are very nice. But I could not have achieve victory on my own. Not without my friends. But thank you and Element for aiding us in this battle. You both have shown great courage and fighting skill. I am glad that you are our new friends!" she said smiling, before throwing her arms around Gamer and giving him one of her famous, bone-crunching hugs. Despite the pain, Gamer smiled widely, blushing like mad.

Robin's eyebrow twitched, not at the display of affection that Starfire was showing, she had done that to all of them. It was how much Gamer was enjoying it that was making him feel just a little… jealous?

Cyborg grinned at the two brothers. "You guys really are fit for this team. I think maybe we ought to let them join. What do you guys think?" he asked the others.

Raven and Terra both nodded.

Beast Boy grinned, "Yeah!"

Starfire beamed. "Oh, it would be splendid to welcome you into the Titans!"

Robin put a hand under his chin. He wasn't so sure about this. Element seemed like he could be a real help, but that Gamer... Robin stopped that thought, scolding himself. What the heck was wrong with him! Was he seriously thinking about not letting Gamer join a team that he so obviously belonged on, just because he appeared to be interested in Starfire? What kind of behavior was that? What guy wasn't interested in Starfire? That was no reason to not let Gamer on the team. He was clearly going to be very useful to them. Still, he figured that there should at least be some official discussion on the subject.

That settled, he spoke to them. "Well, we may need to take a little time to think it over. The only time we've ever accepted someone else in was when Terra came. Why don't you guys come by our tower tonight. We'll talk it over when we get back, and we should have an answer for you by then."

Gamer clenched his fists. "Awesome! We'll be there." Element stayed quiet, but a small smile could be seen to form on his mouth.

"Guess we'll see you guys then." Cyborg said, and he and the others began heading out of the construction site and back towards the T-car.

Raven stayed behind a moment longer to address Element. "Thanks for saving my friends." she said to him shyly, not used to showing gratitude to someone who was technically a stranger. "That was very brave of you, to risk yourself for them."

Element looked down at the ground between them, seeming a little uncomfortable himself, but in an oddly pleasant way. "It was nothing that special. Its what heroes do, and that's what Cody and I decided to do with these powers of ours, be heroes." he said, his eyes finally looking up at her for a moment before darting back to the ground again when he saw that her eyes were focused on him. "Besides, it would have given purpose to my life. And that's all I've ever looked for in anything." he said, rather vaguely.

Raven cocked an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant, but decided not to press the issue. The Gamer had his arms crossed and a grin on his face as he watched this whole conversation. Element was making progress faster than he'd ever hoped he would.

Thinking that the others would wonder what was keeping her, Raven decided it was time to go. "Well, we'll see you guys tonight. Between you and me, I think its already a done deal. You guys are probably going to be Titans by tomorrow. But I didn't tell you that." she said, implying the secrecy.

Element nodded. "Thanks for considering us for the team." he said in his quiet voice.

Stepping back, Raven got ready to leave. "Goodbye." she said to him. Turning around and walking off to where the others were, Raven realized that she'd only said goodbye to Element. Not wanting to seem rude, she stopped for a moment and corrected that. "Bye, Gamer." she said, then walked off.

Standing alone now, the two twin brothers looked at each other. "Alright!" Gamer said enthusiastically, putting his hand up. Element noncommittally put up his hand and let Gamer give him a high-five. "I think Starfire likes me." he said with a smile.

Element lifted his head and looked Gamer right in the eyes. "Dream on. We've done our research. All rumors say that she and Robin have a 'thing' going. She's not going to like you after having met you just twice." he said plainly.

Gamer crossed his arms, frowning, then noticed that his brother had a slight blush on his face, just now fading away. He smiled. "Well, at least you are getting somewhere."

Element frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Gamer grinned wider. "Like you said, we've done our research. Everything we've read and heard says that Raven is the quiet one who rarely talks and stays in the shadows. And there she was speaking to you, when the others were gone, for more than two seconds. I'd say you've made an impression already." he said knowingly.

Element's frown deepened and he let his teeth show. Gamer decided that was enough and backed off. Of all the things his brother hated about life (and that was pretty much everything), the one thing he hated above all else was being patronized. Snorting indignantly, Element began walking from the construction site, Gamer following him.

------

Somewhere in the city, in a room that was almost completely dark, a lone figure stood in front of a wall filled with viewing screens. Slade had watched the entire battle. He already knew pretty much everything there was to know about the Titans' fighting abilities, but these two new boys were quite another matter, and he'd had to test them.

"Interesting. The element absorber has the superior combat skills, but the game player has a much larger potential. I'll have to study him a little closer." Slade said, in his deep sinister voice. If his hunch about these two boys, especially the one called "the Gamer", was accurate, then things just might start going his way once again, and very soon at that.

"Yes, definitely requires more attention." he said to no one in particular.

* * *

End of chapter 2. I know that these first two chapters have been more about action and devoid of romance, but trust me, as this story goes along, there will be plenty of fluff to go around. There will still be action happening a lot along the way for those of you who like it, but the next few chapters will all be about the relationships. Please review! 

Next chapter, Element and the Gamer go to Titans Tower to be accepted into the team. After being shown around their knew home, plans are made about their future. Continue on to Element and the Gamer chapter 3: From six to eight. See you then!


	3. From six to eight

**Element and the Gamer **

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks go again to TitanGirlzRox for the support of this story. Thanks also to flowers of heaven and Wingz.

* * *

Chapter 3: From six to eight

It was almost seven o'clock at night. The Titans had gone back to the tower around noon after the battle at the construction site. They had discussed the issue of whether or not to allow Element and the Gamer to become Teen Titans for approximately four minutes. The final vote: six in favor, none against. What Raven had told Element had been right. It was a done deal.

The Titans had gone about the rest of the day just doing their regular things. Cyborg worked on his T-car. Raven meditated in her room. Robin spent his time in the crime lab, going over all the previous leads they'd had on Slade, wondering what he was up to now that would have him send his forces to a useless construction site. Starfire spent her time cultivating fungus for her own Tamaranian dishes, as well as playing with Silkie.

The only ones who had not done their regular things were Beast Boy and Terra, who had made out for roughly half the time between the meeting and now. They had sat on the couch, kissing each other's lips, cheeks, foreheads, eyebrows and eyelids. They had done some talking too, mostly about how fine they both thought the other was and how much they had missed each other during their times apart. Terra also had talked of how sorry she was for the whole betrayal thing while Beast Boy had told her how sorry he was for giving up on her. They had had that conversation nearly two-hundred times since she had returned.

Now it was seven, and the Titans were all gathered in the common room, wondering if Element and the Gamer would show up. They had no reason to believe that they wouldn't. They wanted to be on the team and Gamer had been very enthusiastic about the likelihood of that happening.

Which was one of the reasons why Robin still had some reserve. The only reason, really. But, he kept that to himself and decided to go through with it.

The underwater proximity alarm went off. Going over to the alert screen, Cyborg looked at the reading. He turned back to the other Titans. "Something is coming close to the island. Underwater. Something big." he said.

Robin moved up to the console and pushed a button. On the screen, the Titans had a view of the shore of the island from one of their security cameras. They all gathered around to see what was going on.

Suddenly, on the screen, a part of the ocean water bulged up, like a spout. It took the form of a humanoid shape, before changing into flesh, revealing Element. He stood knee-deep in the water and began walking onto the rocky shore, his plain white tennis shoes and socks soaked, though he did not seem to care.

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "He's not too big." she said dully, in her weird sense of humor.

Cyborg shook his head. "No, Element wasn't what the proximity alarm sensed. He was the water. It wouldn't sense the water. Whatever set off the alert is still there. Its rising to the surface." he informed them.

They all continued to watch as Element, now standing on the shore, turned around and looked at the water. The water in front of the island bulged enormously as a huge object came up to the surface. The Titans watched astounded as an entire WWII submarine surfaced offshore of their island.

The submarine floated on the surface for a moment before being suddenly consumed in a familiar white light. Seeing some kind of movement happening within the light, the Titans all strained to see closer, but to no avail.

The light faded, revealing the Gamer floating in the sea. He began swimming to shore, where his brother waited, tapping a soaked foot impatiently.

Beast Boy's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he was very impressed. "Dude!" he said loudly. "He can become an entire vehicle from a videogame!" he asked, unable to believe that it could be true.

Robin was also impressed. "Apparently. He said he could become anything from any videogame. I guess that includes vehicles." he answered.

Cyborg could see the positive side of this easily. "Well good. That means there'll be plenty of room in the T-car from now on. And we won't have to build more seats into the T-sub and T-ship neither. Ole' Gamer can just turn into something to make more room." he said, with a look at Terra, who's return had crowded the vehicles he'd mentioned. Terra blushed.

Element and the Gamer now approached the entrance to the tower. They stopped outside the door and waited.

Cyborg pushed a button on the control panel in front of him and spoke. "Come on in guys. Walk straight ahead to the elevator and take it to the top floor." he instructed them.

A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened and the two boys stepped out and into the common room.

The Titans all smiled at them and Cyborg spread his arms wide, to indicate their surroundings. "Welcome to Titan's Tower!" he greeted them.

Element looked around with an expression of being impressed. Gamer was smiling broadly as he looked around.

"This is too cool!" Gamer said enthusiastically to his brother. "We're actually standing in the living room of the Teen Titans! Nobody at home would ever believe this." he said, a slight bit of sadness appearing on his face, but fading away a second later.

Element nodded. "I have to admit, you guys have done alright for yourselves." he complimented their living style.

Beast Boy grinned, glad to have a chance to show off his team. "Heh, this is just the main room. Wait until you see what else we've got around here.".

Element raised an eyebrow. "You make that sound like we're going to be here a while." he said, reminding them of the reason why they'd been invited this evening.

Gamer, who had been glancing all around the room, now looked back at the Titans, remembering also why they have come. He suddenly seemed really nervous.

"So, have you guys…" he gulped,. "Decided?" he asked, a sweat drop forming on the side of his head.

Robin nodded. "We have." he said, his voice absolutely serious. He stepped forward in front of his team. "After long and careful deliberation-", he started.

"For about four minutes!" Beast Boy interrupted with a grin.

Robin continued, "We voted unanimously… in favor of letting you, Element and the Gamer, become official members of the Teen Titans."

Cyborg nodded. "Congratulations, guys. You're Titans now." he said, proud to give them the news.

The Gamer's eyes widened to the point where it looked like they would pop out of his skull and his mouth spread into a smile so huge that it seemed to almost surpass the physical outline of his head. "ALRIGHT!" he practically shouted.

Even Element could not keep the corners of his mouth from lifting into a modest smile. "Cool." he said simply, as if his fondest dream coming true were no reason to go berserk.

Starfire smiled jubilantly. "Welcome to the Titans, new friends!" she said, before walking up to Gamer and giving him a massive "initiation hug", so to speak.

Gamer's eyes went dreamy for a moment as he returned the hug to the girl he had admired from afar for so long.

Robin's eyebrow twitched once, as he began having non-serious second thoughts about this.

Starfire then released Gamer, to his disappointment, and then she walked up to Element and gave him a hug as well. Element physically recoiled, shocked that anyone would simply walk up to him and thrust their body on him in such a way. It was not offending, just unexpected, and not entirely welcome.

Not wanting to seem rude, as he knew that Starfire showed such affection to her friends often, Element squeezed her back extremely gently for half a second before letting go and practically prying her off of him.

"Um, thank you, Starfire." he said, blushing and quite embarrassed. "But, if we're going to be friends, I have to lay down a rule right here. No hugging me, please. I'm not very… hmm, _comfortable_ with it."

Upon seeing Starfire's startled expression, he amended that. "But, a nice handshake will do instead." he told her reassuringly, as he put out his hand.

Starfire smiled again. "Very well then. If it pleases you." she said, before shaking his hand.

Deciding to use this moment to get Gamer back for daring to patronize him about his interest in Raven, Element continued, "But you can hug Gamer anytime. He's a "touch" kind of guy. He prefers hugs to any other form of greeting." he said, actually giving his twin something of an evil grin.

Gamer's face turned beet red at this comment and he shuffled his feet like a little boy, although he did nothing to deny Element's statement. His brother had practically set him up for a guaranteed enjoyable stay at Titan's Tower. Had Element actually played a joke on him? It didn't seem possible.

Robin's shoulders drew up at Element's statement and Gamer's reaction. Element looked at Robin seriously, and shook his head in such an imperceptive way that only Robin noticed. The message was clear. _Don't worry. You're not getting replaced._ Robin relaxed a little at that.

Noticing the way Robin had tensed up after Element's little speech, Terra elbowed Beast Boy and Cyborg, whispering, "It looks like Robin's going to have a little competition around here." she said with a grin.

Nodding, Cyborg turned to the twins. "How would you guys like a tour of the place?" he asked.

Gamer nodded. "Yeah, that would be cool." he said, wondering if a tour would include seeing inside Starfire's bedroom.

Element was also wondering if he'd get a glimpse inside Raven's room, although he doubted it. He didn't want to see Raven's room for the reason's why his brother wanted to see Starfire's. He wanted to know how a girl with an attitude like hers might decorate her environment, or if she even decorated it at all.

Beast Boy waved them to follow him and the others. "Come on, we'll show you around." he said.

------

Disappointingly, for both brothers, the tour had not included a look inside the rooms of the Titans, only where they were located. But they both felt that with time they'd have their curiosity satisfied.

They had been shown the crime lab, the evidence room, the weight training room, the combat practice room, the basement, the storage room, the garage, the launch sites of the T-ship and T-sub, and the obstacle course outside.

When they finished the tour, the kitchen area being the last stop, the Titans all gathered around in the living room.

"Well, what do you guys think?" Robin asked his newest teammates.

"Oh, we're going to like living here, aren't we, Element?" he asked his brother. Element nodded in agreement.

Cyborg spoke to them. "Well, I hope you guys don't mind sleeping in this room for a few nights while I make some rooms for you. Or do you guys both sleep in the same room?" he asked.

Gamer shook his head. "No, we like separate rooms. Although, you really only have to make the room for me, I can take care of everything else that goes in it. Element though, he's going to need some help getting his place going." he informed them.

Cyborg cocked an eyebrow. "Why is that?" he asked.

Element answered him. "I'm a nature kind of guy. It's why my powers are what they are. I like to spend my time in green houses and arboretums. I think that's what I'm going to make my room up as, an arboretum. Of course, I'll need a glass ceiling." he said, like it was no big deal.

Raven, who had been unusually silent, even for her, now spoke up. "You mean you're going to grow plants in your room?" she asked.

Element turned to her, seeming to have just the slightest bit of difficulty speaking, although only Gamer knew exactly why and Raven was just starting to suspect.

"Plants, rocks, water, humidifiers to make a light mist, anything I can form myself to. I don't just absorb the elements for fighting; it's what I do in my spare time. I become one with creation. Its my… fulfillment." he said. He turned away from Raven, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief.

Beast Boy raised his eyebrows up. "Cool. Maybe you could grow some vegetables for me." he said, half joking.

Cyborg was thinking about the work that would need to go into that. "Well, it might take some extra time, but it can be done if you don't mind sleeping on the sofa for about a week." he told Element.

Element nodded. "Not a problem, but I don't sleep on the sofa." he informed him.

Starfire clasped her hands together in front of herself. "Well, this is wonderful. We have gone from being six friends to eight in one day. Tell me, what shall we do now?" she asked.

Cyborg and Beast Boy both jumped on the sofa and picked up their Gamestation controllers. "Let's play some games!" Beast Boy suggested. He looked at the Gamer. "So Gamer, wanna play against us? I want to see how good you really are." he challenged.

Gamer smiled at him. "Beast Boy, I don't play videogames…" he began. He took a dramatic pause, then an overly dramatic stance. "I AM videogames!" he declared.

Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other, both raising an eyebrow.

Cyborg turned back to Gamer. "Yeah, we know. But, do you want to play?" he asked.

Gamer considered for a second, before shrugging and saying, "Okay. But you're going to lose." he said. It was not a challenge. He said it like it was a known fact.

Beast Boy grinned. "We'll see about that. Cyborg and I happen to be experts at all types of games." he said confidently.

Gamer nodded. "I know, I've learned all I can about you guys. You might be experts at games, but remember, I am _the_ Gamer. I don't have that name for nothing." he said, before sitting down next to Cyborg. He pulled out his controller.

Cyborg looked at it. "Whoa now. That thing isn't compatible with this system. Its able to have 4 players, but we only have two controllers. We'll have to take turns." he informed Gamer.

Gamer shook his head. "No we won't." he said simply. Holding up his controller, a cord suddenly sprang out of the back of it. It snaked down the sofa, across the floor and to the Gamestation. Positioning itself in front of one of the controller docks, the cord formed a plastic plug-in that fit perfectly with the controller dock.

Cyborg and Beast Boy watched this, speechless.

Gamer stroked his controller like a beloved pet. "This baby is the source of my power. Turning me into videogame characters is just the beginning of what it can do." he bragged.

Element turned to Robin and the three girls. "I'm not a videogame guy. Let's go back to the evidence room. I'd like to look at all the stuff you guys have collected." he told them. Nodding, Robin led the way, the girls following.

Starfire and Terra both noted the way Raven's eyes would travel over to Element once in a while, before staring straight forward again a second later. If they weren't guilty of doing the same thing themselves with two other Titans, they never would have noticed.

------

The Gamer did not beat Cyborg and Beast Boy at the videogames they played. He did not crush them, squash them or pulverize them. He did not even slaughtered them. What he did, was pound any and all bragging rights either of them had or ever would have into oblivion. They had dozens of games, but they only played their three favorites, what with the night growing late. A racing game, a fighting game and a shooting game.

On all three, Gamer had taken the lead practically the second the system loaded the game into play, and had stayed there with unwavering dominance. In all three games, neither Cyborg, nor Beast Boy had scored so much as a single point. In fact, they had negative scores down into the three-hundred range.

Gamer called it a night on the Gamestation and turned it off, his controller unplugging and retracting its cord back into itself, after which he replaced it in his back pocket.

Beast Boy and Cyborg stared straight ahead at the TV screen, stuck in a state of shock that neither of them had ever experienced.

"That was fun." Gamer said, acting like he hadn't destroyed their careers as gamers permanently. "But I think you guys weren't playing up to your fullest. It's late, and there was that fight today… you guys must be tired. You'll do better tomorrow." he said in a matter of fact tone.

Robin and the girls were returning from the evidence room where they had shown Element all of their collected "trophies" from battles past.

Element was asking them, "But if you guys had the Puppet King's body locked up in there, how did he come back to life and get out to work for the Brotherhood of Evil?", he wanted to know.

Robin shrugged. "We still haven't figured that out. Or how Warp was there. Or why Slade, Brother Blood and Blackfire weren't there. The whole thing with the Brotherhood was kind of kooky, to tell you the truth." Robin admitted.

Walking up behind the sofa, noticing that the three were done playing games, Robin asked, "So, how did you guys do?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy stood up and turned around, the shocked expressions still on their faces. They did not respond.

Gamer answered for them. "They lost. I won. But I don't think they're up to their full potential tonight." he said plainly.

Element crossed his arms. "Figures. Gamer has never even broken a sweat playing a game against an opponent, computer or human." he said.

Terra looked at the time. "Well, its getting kind of late. Maybe we should all go to bed and start helping these guys get settled in tomorrow." she suggested.

Robin nodded. "Good idea. Oh, before I forget, I might as well hand these to you guys now." he said, pulling two communicators from his belt, each with a T on it. He handed them to the twins. "Now you're really part of the team." he said.

Gamer held the communicator with awe. "Wow. This is unbelievable. It's actually real. We're really Titans." He placed the communicator in his other back pocket. Element put his in his front pocket.

Raven looked at their plain shirts and jeanshorts and said, "Maybe we should help you guys make some costumes for yourselves too." she suggested.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, no sense on going with the 'normal' look. You're both going to need uniforms to show that you are on the team now." he told them.

Element nodded. "Yeah, I suppose we will have to do that. Anyway, we'll worry about that tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight." he said to them all, giving a slight nod to Raven, before walking up next to the common room wall.

He turned around and rested his back against it, then slipped through and into the wall. The texture of the wall seemed to form to the outline of a human body.

Confused, Starfire turned to Gamer. "Element sleeps within the walls?" she asked him.

Gamer shrugged. "Since he got his powers, he spends most of his time formed to the elements of anything around him. He sleeps _in_ the wall, or _in_ the bed or _in_ the floor. One time he spent the night outside, sleeping _inside_ a tree. Once he even took a nap as a lake.".

Robin's eyebrows went up. "Wow. He doesn't have comfort issues or anything?".

Gamer shook his head. "Nope. It's relaxing for him." he confirmed.

Shrugging, Robin decided that they should all go to bed now. "Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight.". He said, turning and walking back to the door to the hallway that led to his room. He stopped, waiting to see how Starfire would bid Gamer goodnight.

She smiled at Gamer, then hugged him, following Element's suggestion. Gamer blushed hotly. "Goodnight, new friend Gamer!" she said to him before turning to the wall. "Goodnight, new friend Element!" she said, before turning and heading for her room.

Robin and Star walked out of the room together.

Terra waved. "Yeah, night guys." she said, before turning to the hallway. Realizing that Cyborg and Beast Boy had not moved, she turned to them. "Hey, you two? Aren't you going to bed?" she asked them.

Remaining silent, the shocked expression at their insurmountable defeat at the hands of the Gamer stuck to their faces, Cyborg and Beast Boy both walked as stiff as dummies to the hallway and off to their separate rooms. Terra followed, waving her hand in front of Beast Boy's face, trying to get his attention.

Raven drew her cloak around herself. "Goodnight, Gamer." she said plainly in monotone. She then turned to the wall that held Element's image in it. "Goodnight, Element." she said, somewhat softer.

Before she turned away, she heard him respond from the wall, his voice sounding completely normal, despite the fact that he no longer had mouth to speak with. "Goodnight, Raven." he said shyly.

The corner of Raven's mouth twitched ever so slightly, before she turned and walked away to her room, turning out the lights on her way.

Gamer lay down on the couch, staring at the ceiling. They had done it. Element and the Gamer had been accepted into the Teen Titans, what they had wanted to do since the Titans had formed a year and a half ago.

**A/N: Come on, look at the ages of the Titans, listen to their voices, look at the changes, or lack there of, that have happened to them over the seasons. The whole series could not have taken place in more than a year and a half, and that's stretching it as it is. I don't understand people who make them out to having been together for years.**

Gamer was excited with the possibilities his new life presented. A chance to do something he'd be remembered for. To be looked upon as someone truly worth being like, not just the most excellent game player in history. And of course, a chance to finally find out if he could gain Starfire's affections.

He knew it wasn't likely to happen. Starfire and Robin were close, and not just because of what they had been through together, but because of who they both were. They were special to each other, even though it was still unofficial. But Gamer deserved the right to at least try, didn't he? Even a losing battle was worth fighting sometimes, just to see if there was at least a small chance of victory.

He was going to spend the next few weeks getting closer to Starfire, getting to know her beyond what the media knew, but without moving in on Robin's space. He had no intention of taking her away from Robin, but if she just happened to realize along the way that she liked Gamer more than Robin, well, them's the brakes, right? That was fair.

But the most important thing about this whole deal was the chance to help Element. His brother never would admit it, not even to him, but Gamer knew that Element had pretty much given up on life in general, and his own life specifically. Element saw everything as a pointless waste of time between your birth and your death. He was looking at the picture from too far back and he needed to come in closer to see the details, and soon.

And he wanted to, that was the thing. Gamer was sure that although Element firmly believed his view on life, he did not want to follow it. He wanted to enjoy life, like everyone else, but he just couldn't relate to anyone. Until he had learned of Raven.

Raven. She was the answer to everything. She was Gamer's only hope for his brother to find a reason to go on with life. Someone who would decline the chance to have a good time for reasons that she believed to be legitimate, while deep down inside was secretly dying for the chance to enjoy what others did.

Element could relate to Raven. When the other Titans would go out to enjoy extracurricular activities, both Raven and Element would decline. But they would both be able to understand the other's desire to remain in the shadows and spend time with each other in their own anti-social ways.

Element needed Raven. He thought it was just a passing interest, or at least that's what he wanted others to believe he thought, but Gamer knew different. Element was a superhero now, and there was only one female superhero who had an attitude like his, and that was Raven. She was the only person on earth who would be the absolute perfect match for him, and could mend his soul enough to give him a reason to enjoy the life he'd been given. And maybe, Raven would need that too.

That was why Gamer absolutely had to make sure that he and Element moved to Jump City after leaving home. Why they had to become Teen Titans. He had to help his brother out. He was going to get Element and Raven together even if it meant he himself would never have anyone. For his brother. He at least had his games and the desire to continue living. Element had nothing, and he needed someone. He was going to get that someone. Element could let his pride and his hatred of being patronized slow him down and resist against it, but he was going to find actual happiness with his dream girl if it was the last thing the Gamer ever did.

The real game had now officially begun.

* * *

So now there are eight Titans. Will the Gamer be able to win Starfire's love, or is she too dedicated to Robin to ever care for someone else that way? Will Element ever find happiness with his only possible match, Raven? This story is just getting started, and I have no idea how long it might go, but we have quite a way before the end, I can tell you that. I hope that all you guys decide to stick through it for Element and the Gamer chapter 4: Living as Titans. See you guys then!  



	4. Living as Titans

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Gamer disclaimer: _Silent Hill 2_ is property of Konami and is not owned by me. Well, I own the game, but not the rights to it. And I don't own Teen Titans, of course.

Thanks as always to TitanGirlzRox, for her continued support of this story.

* * *

Chapter 4: Living as Titans

The Gamer awoke to the sounds of sizzling, the smell of bacon grease, and the feeling of being shaken. Opening his eyes, he saw his brother. Element had a hand on his shoulder, trying to shake him awake.

"Wake up. Cyborg is making breakfast." he told him.

Unsure of what he was talking about, Gamer sat up. Looking around, he saw that he was sleeping on a sofa. Then he remembered. _Oh yeah. Titan's Tower. We joined last night._

Getting off the couch, Gamer stretched his arms above his head and yawned, getting rid of the last of his sleepiness.

Leaving his brother, Element walked over to the kitchen area. He saw that two extra seats had been set out along the tables, which had been pushed together to make room for the newest members.

Looking over his shoulder, Cyborg addressed Element. "How many pancakes you want, Element?" he asked.

"Just two, thanks. I don't eat a lot. Might as well give Gamer six. He always makes a pig of himself." he answered. Cyborg nodded and continued to flip the pancakes.

Beast Boy walked into the room, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. "Morning guys." He then looked at the Gamer and formed a serious expression on his face. "I hope you are good and rested, because I'm gonna give you a rematch like you've never seen." he said, determination in his voice.

Gamer smiled and crossed his arms. "Bring it on." he challenged.

Turning to Cyborg, Beast Boy asked, "Are you making me any tofu pancakes?"

Cyborg turned his head around to him, frowning. "Yeah, yeah, I got your tofu pancakes. Freak.". Gamer laughed at that.

The hallway door opened again, and Raven and Starfire stepped out. Starfire smiled brightly at her friends. "Good morning, Friends!" she declared.

"Morning Star." the four boys all answered, three in an offhanded way, one with a dreamy look on his face. Stepping up to Gamer, Starfire drew him into a massive hug.

"Was your first night in our home comfortable for you, New Friend Gamer?" she asked sweetly.

Hugging her back and guiltily enjoying it too much, Gamer answered, "Yeah, the couch was comfy enough to suit me." he said, feeling his face go hot with blush.

Robin entered the room at that moment and the first thing he saw was Starfire and Gamer with their arms around each other. His shoulders drew up at this sight.

Starfire finally released Gamer from her grip and moved to sit down at the breakfast table. Gamer kept the dreamy look on his face as he watched her go, and then looked at Robin, shrugging his shoulders, a sheepish grin spreading from his mouth. He then pointed accusingly at Element. It was his suggestion that Starfire hug him on every occasion, after all.

Robin let the tension drain out of him and waved his hand to the side, a sign to forget it. It wasn't as if Starfire liked him or anything. She would have been hugging all of them like that if the other Titans hadn't made strict hugging rules. If he hadn't already set himself up as the distant leader, he would probably invite Starfire to hug _him_ at every opportunity. Heaven knows he'd like it to happen.

Robin made his way past Element and the Gamer and sat down at the table, taking his usual seat next to Starfire. She sat at the end of the table, so there was no chance that Gamer could sit next to her too, thank goodness.

Element shook his head at all this, then looked at Raven, who hadn't spoken. She nodded to him, and he returned it. Going over to cupboards, Raven began to take out the ingredients of her usual morning tea. Opening a package, she turned her head around to look at Element.

"I'm making some herbal tea. Would you like a cup?" she offered plainly. Element nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds good." he said, managing to keep his voice regular. Nodding, Raven turned back around and began making two cups of tea.

Finally, Terra entered the room. Walking over to the rest of the group, she smiled at all of them. "Morning everyone." She moved up to Beast Boy. "Morning Beast Boy." she said sweetly, kissing him on the cheek.

Beast Boy blushed, and returned the kiss. "Morning to you, Terra." he replied, grinning. The two then sat down at the table, Beast Boy on the end, Terra between him and Robin.

Having finished making the tea, Raven levitated one of the cups over to Element, who took it out of the air.

"Thank you." he said, taking a sip. It was warm and sweet. He liked it. He'd never tried herbal tea before, but he knew that he could get used to having it often. He let the inside of his mouth absorb and form into the tea, sampling the elements it was made of, before returning his mouth to normal and swallowing the tea.

Sipping her own tea, Raven moved away from the counter and sat down at the table.

Cyborg, a plate heaped with pancakes and bacon in one hand, another plate with tofu versions of the same in the other, sat down at the table next to Raven. He set the first plate in the middle, so that the others could take what they wanted. He pushed the other plate over to Beast Boy, as he was the only one who wanted any of that stuff.

The Titans all began to fill their individual plates with what they wanted, then noticed that their two newest members had not joined them. The six friends looked up. Element and the Gamer were standing nearby, looking at the ground, seeming to wait for something.

Robin cocked an eyebrow. "What's up you guys? Aren't you going to eat?" he questioned them.

Element looked up to him. "You didn't invite us to sit with you." he answered. The Titans all shared puzzled expressions

Gamer explained. "It's a manners thing. It's how we were raised. We know that you've decided to let us live with you, but that table isn't ours to eat at until we sit down to it as members. And we can't do that unless you invite us to sit at your table with you.".

The six Titans at the table all looked at each other, not sure what to think about this. It certainly was a unique way of looking at appropriate manners. It actually kind of flattered them that the two brothers wanted them to give permission to eat at their table.

Looking back to his two new teammates, Robin gave the permission they felt they needed. "As leader of the Teen Titans, I officially ask the two of you to join us at this table as members of the team, until further notice." he said with a slight grin.

With that, Gamer immediately moved around the table and sat down in the seat next to Cyborg, right across from Starfire.

_Darn it_, Robin thought.

Of course, sitting across from Starfire was only half the reason why Gamer had chosen that seat, and a moment later, as he moved to the last unoccupied seat at the table, Element realized that. The only seat remaining… was right next to Raven. He paused for a moment in his steps towards the seat, coming to the realization that Gamer had trapped him in a situation where he would _have_ to sit next to Raven.

_Darn it_, Element thought.

All the Titans had watched, waiting for their last member to sit down at the table and make the team finally complete. And so, everyone noticed when Element hesitated, and in that moment, the truth came home to all of them.

Element's slight change of attitude around Raven when they first met. The last little look he'd given her before leaving that day. The nod he had tipped her just last night. All the Titans had entertained the idea that there was something going on there, at first, but seeing more of Element's behavior since their first meeting seemed to discredit the idea. Plus, Gamer's obvious crush on Starfire took the attention away from Element. But now it was crystal clear to all of them; Element had a crush on Raven.

Element recovered almost immediately and pulled the chair out from the table, sitting down in it. He'd hoped that his pause hadn't drawn attention to himself, but seeing how all of them were looking at him, he knew that it had.

Gamer, Beast Boy, Terra and Cyborg were trying unsuccessfully not to grin, while Robin and Starfire wore questioning looks. Raven simply stared straight ahead, no expression on her face. Element took her example and paid the others' expressions no mind, keeping his own face neutral, as though nothing had happened.

The eight teenage superheroes began to dig in. After eating three of his pancakes in about one minute, Gamer turned to Cyborg. "Man, this is good, Cyborg. None of the research we did said anything about you being a master chef."

Cyborg grinned with accomplishment. "Well thanks, I try."

Looking across the table at Beast Boy's plate of tofu breakfast, Element grew curious. He reached halfway across the table, looking up at Beast Boy. Beast Boy furrowed his brow in curiosity.

"May I?" Element asked him.

Beast Boy nodded. "Sure." Element reached for a piece of his tofu bacon.

Cyborg interjected. "You're not going to like it." he warned.

Beast Boy frowned at Cyborg. "Aw, let him try. Don't discourage the broadening of horizons." he told him.

Element looked between the two of them. "I don't want to eat it." he assured them. All the Titans watched curiously as Element touched one of Beast Boy's tofu bacon strips with the tip of his finger. His whole hand instantly took on the texture of the tofu, while keeping the shape of a hand.

Element brought his hand closer to his face, examining it with curiosity. All the other Titans had raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"Interesting." Element said, not really sounding interested at all. "I've never formed tofu before. Hmm, maybe I will try it." he said. Bringing his hand to his mouth, he bit off his middle and third fingers.

The jaws of the other Titans dropped and they recoiled in shock. All except Gamer, who was trying not to laugh.

"Aw, Dude! I didn't need to see that!" Beast Boy whined.

"Neither did I." Terra moaned, before putting two fingers to her lips, trying to keep her gorge down as her face turned as green as Beast Boy's.

Element's face also turned green at the taste of the artificial bacon his hand was now made of.

"Ugh! Oh man. Sorry Beast Boy, but this stuff is nasty." he complained. With a flick of his hand, his normal flesh returned. The fingers he'd bitten off were whole once again, not even a bite mark.

Robin had to agree that in terms of disgusting things that have happened at Titan meals, this ranked right up there with Raven's attempt at breakfast and Starfire's discovery of mustard.

"Um, Element? Could you do us all a favor and never do that again? If you want to turn into food, that's fine, but please don't eat any part of yourself in front of us anymore." he begged.

Element nodded. "That's okay with me."

Once the Titans' stomachs settled again, they continued with their breakfast. Starfire decided to use this opportunity to learn more about her new friends. "Please, New Friends Element and the Gamer, tell us more about yourselves. What things do you like? What are your favorite motions pictures?" she prodded.

Gamer considered the question. "Our favorite movies? Well, mine I think… I think it's a toss up between _Tron_ and _The Good, The Bad and the Ugly_." he answered her.

Element also thought about it. "This might sound weird, but my favorite movie is _Phone Booth_." he said, actually seeming somewhat embarrassed by saying so.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "That one with Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland?" he asked.

Robin grimaced. "I don't like that movie. The guy who was making the phone call, his voice sounded a lot like Slade's voice." he pointed out with a shudder.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, Kiefer Sutherland does kinda sound like Slade." he agreed.

Beast Boy's hands shot up in the air. "No, wait! You know who sounds like Slade? Ron Perlman. You know, that guy in _Hellboy_. I've listened to his voice closely, and he sounds a _lot_ like Slade." Beast Boy revealed. The other Titans nodded in agreement at that.

**A/N: Do you get the joke? If you don't, look at the end credits to a Teen Titans episode, the voice talents. Then you'll get it.**

As they finished breakfast, the Titans all remained around the table, telling the brothers about some of their greatest adventures. Although Element and the Gamer had done extensive research on all the Titan's activities, it just wasn't the same as hearing it right from the source, and helped clear up a lot of theories and wild guesses that were floating around out there.

The one thing that really shocked the brothers was the Titan's battle with Trigon. Since the world had ended with everyone transformed into stone, with no memory of it happening once it was over, no body had ever written anything down about it. So it was quite a surprise to the twins that the Titans had fought the apocalypse and won, without their knowledge.

"Wow." Gamer said, shocked. "Armageddon happens without anyone even being aware of it, and you guys stopped it. Wow. We knew it was coming. Fans had put out descriptions of your battles with Slade, and the Scath and all that stuff, so we knew that it was going to come. But to think that it did and we missed it. What a disappointing apocalypse. What's the point of ending the world if nobody is around to weep and moan in despair? Trigon has one lousy sense of taste if he can make the end of the world seem boring."

Robin countered him. "Hey, it wasn't too boring from where we were standing. We had to deal with the whole thing ourselves."

Element nodded. "Good point. But it sounds more like Raven was the one who set everything right." he said, trying not to make it sound like a compliment. Raven turned and looked at Element, picking up on the compliment anyway, and trying to keep her own face neutral.

"Thanks." she said to him. The others all looked at each other knowingly.

Element shrugged. "Just pointing out an observation.". Thinking for a moment, he then looked at Terra. "I guess that also explains how you came back, Terra." he said to her.

Terra frowned in puzzlement. "What do you mean?" she asked him.

Element raised an eyebrow. "You mean, you never realized that?" Terra shook her head.

Element looked around at all the Titans. "None of you ever figured that out?" he asked them all, unable to believe that his secret idols had not even considered something so obvious. They all shook their heads.

Looking back at Terra, Element explained. "Well, Trigon's spell turned everything on the surface of the earth into stone, correct? And all the waters in the world into lava. And when Raven destroyed him, or sent him back to the underworld, or whatever happened to him, it undid the spell. And everything in the world that was stone and was supposed to be flesh, was turned back into flesh. And that explains how you were turned back into a human too." he finished.

The other Titans all looked at Element, astounded. Never had they even entertained that idea, yet it made so much sense. Beast Boy was still a little doubtful.

"But, Terra was already a statue before Trigon's spell turned the rest of the world into statues." he told him.

Element shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Defeating Trigon undid the spell of stone that covered flesh. Terra was originally flesh, but then was turned to stone. It doesn't matter what caused it, it was reversed when the rest of the world was returned to normal." he said matter-of-factly.

**A/N: I can't believe that no other fans have ever put this theory forward. It just makes so much sense, and it's the only thing that happened that could explain Terra's return.**

------

The group talked for a while longer before clearing the table and heading into the living area.

"Now then," Beast Boy began, "Its time for a rematch, Gamer.".

Gamer was ready to answer the challenge. "Anytime.".

Robin spoke up. "Wait a minute guys, we've got stuff to do today. Cyborg has to get to work building rooms for these guys. They've got costumes to make, we need to test them in combat practice and weight training…" he counted off the issues on his fingers.

Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder. "Hold on there, Robin. There's no rush for any of that. We can't train for a while unless we all want to get cramps. Shopping for materials to make their costumes is best to do around noon, when there's the least amount of mall traffic And it won't take me long to build a room for Gamer. Relax, and let me and BB get some of our bragging rights back."

Robin sighed. "Alright then. You've got an hour to play, then we hit the training room. Agreed?"

"Agreed." they all answered.

Cyborg, Beast Boy and the Gamer all sat down on the sofa. Beast Boy turned on the Gamestation while Gamer pulled out his game controller and let it plug itself into the console.

"I'll be in the crime lab." Robin told them, and left the room.

Starfire turned to Terra. "Come, Terra. I will let you help me to rearrange my _graplooka_ collection." she said brightly.

Terra shrugged. "Why not. Uh, what's a _graplooka_?"

Raven moved over into a corner and levitated into the air. "I'll just be right here, meditating." she announced plainly.

Without turning away from the tv screen, Gamer said, "And Element will just be standing right there, staring at you while you do it." He turned to see his brother's face, which was now turning bright red, although whether it was mostly embarrassment or anger was uncertain. Cyborg and Beast Boy smirked.

Without opening her eyes, Raven plainly responded, "That's fine with me."

This caused Cyborg's and Beast Boy's smirks to switch to expressions of shock, their heads snapping around to stare hard at Raven.

Raven's eyes opened in shock of their own. She had not meant to say that out loud. Recovering quickly from this brief lapse in her usual control, she added, "As long as he doesn't say anything to disrupt my concentration."

Although her eyes had closed again, Element nodded in agreement to her terms. He turned and shot a glare filled with the promise of murder to his twin. Gamer grinned back at him tauntingly. He knew he was going to get it from Element later. Bad. But the opportunity that had presented itself there was just too inviting to pass up.

Deciding not to let his brother make a fool of him, Element turned to leave the room and headed back to the kitchen area. Placing his hand on the kitchen table, he let himself be absorbed into it.

------

After the designated hour had passed, Beast Boy and Cyborg simply gave up. It was clear that they were never, _ever_ going to beat Gamer at anything. They really had done better than they did the night before. Instead of negative scores down in the three hundreds, they now had negative scores down in the two hundred and forties. They had gone through nearly half of their collection of games, but they didn't need to go through the other half to know that Gamer truly was the king of the videogames. There was no defeating him.

They both threw down their controllers in defeat, as Gamer's controller retracted its cord back into itself. "Sorry guys, but I told you. You can't beat the Gamer." he stated matter-of-factly.

Beast Boy crossed his arms, a look of complete frustration on his face. "Hardy har. Probably cheating." he mumbled.

Gamer's controller dropped from his hand, landing on the couch. His body went rigid, his eyes widening, his breathing becoming rapid. His head slowly turned until he was looking right at Beast Boy and Cyborg. The two suddenly felt very frightened by the way he was looking at them.

Raven's eyes suddenly snapped open and she turned her head to look over at Gamer. She could sense the rapid build of intense emotion; a vast, boiling rage of devastating proportions.

Element suddenly appeared, lying on top of the kitchen table. He sat up, jumped off the table, and ran across the room towards the couch, hoping that he could intervene before Beast Boy's choice of words earned him a thrashing to end all thrashings. He had heard Beast Boy's comment as well, you see, and knew right away the exact reaction to expect from Gamer to such an accusation.

Raven lowered herself to the floor and drew up her hood, ready to contain Gamer within her energies if Element failed to neutralize the situation.

Gamer stood up, still breathing hard. His wild-eyed stare now turned into a glare of hate, directed right at Beast Boy, and to a lesser extent at Cyborg.

Element came up behind his brother and grabbed his arms, pulling them to his side.

"Hold it Gamer. Take it easy. He didn't mean it, just let it go. He didn't understand, it wasn't meant as an insult. Don't do it Gamer. Come on, calm down. Remember last time. Express yourself with words, not action. Don't hurt him."

Leaning in to whisper in his ear, Element continued. "Come on, Cody. Don't do this. He wasn't being serious. Just let it go, forgive and forget, remember? We just got accepted into their group; don't go doing something stupid to ruin that. Not after we waited so long to prove we could do it."

Shaking with the burning anger, Gamer squeezed his eyes shut hard, trying to induce vertigo to distract himself from the rage. Opening his eyes again, he prepared to expel the anger through shouting.

"**I! Do! Not! _CHEAT!_**" he yelled with all his fury. Taking in a deep breath and then letting it out, he reached down and picked up his controller.

Element patted him on the back of his shoulder. "There. You got it all out of you, its alright. Just go outside and look at the ocean while you calm down."

Gamer nodded and took his brother's advice. Crossing his arms, he huffed in anger and indignity, then turned around and headed for the elevator.

Element sighed with relief. Raven lowered her hood. Beast Boy and Cyborg were able to breath easy again.

Looking at them, Element said, "You never want to say the C-word around Gamer. He takes it very personally when he's accused of cheating." he informed them.

Cyborg scratched his head. "Personally? Seems more like he takes it psychotically!" he said.

Element nodded. "Yeah, but you've got to understand. Gamer has never cheated at anything. He's never typed in a cheat code in a game. He's just so naturally good, and he takes pride in that. When he's accused of cheating, it's like calling him a fraud and discrediting who he is."

Beast Boy was shocked, now feeling guilty for saying such a thing to Gamer. "Dude. I didn't know. Has he ever even lost a game?" he asked, already guessing the answer.

Element nodded again. "Once. The first game he ever played. When he started it for the first time, he let himself be killed in the game so that he could understand what the consequences were for failing in a game. Ever since that one and only time, he's never even come close to losing a game. It's who he is." he answered gravely.

Cyborg smacked Beast Boy on the back of the head. "Now see whatcha done! You offended our new buddy!" he accused.

Beast Boy hung his head guiltily. "Sheesh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Don't apologize to me," Cyborg told him, "Apologize to him."

Element raised a hand. "I think you should let him calm down for a while first. He'll feel guilty himself for blowing up at you like that. Don't worry. He's never let it stay personal." he reassured them.

------

A while later, all the Titans had gathered in the training room. Beast Boy had apologized to Gamer after he had calmed down. Gamer had also apologized, feeling like a jerk for taking the harmless comment so personally after having been accepted into the team the night before.

Robin and Cyborg had set up some large and extremely sturdy and thick alloy plates in the middle of the room, all lined up in a row. The objective of each Titan was to penetrate, knock down, or just plain destroy the plates; a test of strength and power.

Each Titan lined up in front of a plate, ready to go once it was their turn. Taking out his staff, Robin went first. "Hyaaa!" he shouted, delivering three quick blows to the alloy plate. The ten-foot metal square acquired three large dents and broke away from the clamps that held it upright on the floor, falling backward with a loud banging sound.

Starfire charged up her starbolts and hurled the green blasts of solar energy at the plate in front of her. The energy hit the metal and burned straight through, creating an impressively large hole that glowed from the heat.

Raven encompassed her plate in her dark energies and began to mentally twist and contort it into a completely unrecognizable shape.

Terra lifted a boulder that she had moved into the room for this exact purpose and sent it flying at her plate, knocking it off its clamps and letting it crash to the ground.

Beast Boy turned into a Rhinoceros and charged at the alloy plate in front of him. Ramming the metal plate, Beast Boy broke it from its floor clamps and the plate flew across the room and slammed into the wall.

Cyborg activated his sonic cannon, aimed it at the metal plate he stood in front of, and blasted at it. The whole upper half of the square plate was bent backward by the sound blast, and the floor clamps gave way, letting the plate drop over.

Element looked at the plate he was supposed to attack, then looked at Cyborg, who stood to his left. "Can you knock that down with your fist?" he asked Cyborg.  
Cyborg frowned in curiosity, but nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Element walked over to him, placing a hand on his metal forearm. Element's entire body suddenly changed into the same kind of metal alloy as most of Cyborg's body. He still kept his normal size and shape, even his clothes looked normal, just made of solid metal. Then, walking over to his plate, Element punched it right in the center, putting all of his might into it. The whole thing broke away from the floor and flew across the room, almost joining Beast Boy's plate, landing near the far wall.

Gamer took out his controller and began pushing buttons in a bizarre pattern, while rotating the thumbstick. He then pushed the START button and was consumed in the familiar bright light. When the light faded, in Gamer's place, stood a being more frightening than the Titans expected.

"Eep!" Starfire squealed, moving slightly behind Robin.

Standing there was a creature that was mostly human. Its body was about the size of a normal man. It wore a sort of gown, which was stained with rust and what could have been blood. A pair of simple black boots were on its feet. Its hands were almost human. The thumb and pinky were normal; however, the other fingers were all melded together. In its right hand it held a blade that looked like a kitchen knife, only it was about five feet long and ten inches wide. It was rusted and flecked with dried bits of blood.

The most bizarre feature by far on this _thing_ was its head. Its head looked like a red metal helmet of some sort. It was triangular in shape, coming to a sharp point in the air, before widening out as it went down towards the shoulders, like a pyramid. The side where the face would have been was longer than the other sides and kind of pushed forward.

The Titans stared, wide-eyed. "Dude, its Pyramid Head from _Silent Hill 2_!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

Robin stared at his weapon. "That is one wicked-looking knife." he said in amazement.

Beast Boy frowned. "Yeah, what is it with him and turning into game characters with really big swords? Is he trying to compensate for someth-" he started, before being cut off by Cyborg's hand clamping over his mouth.

Cyborg's human eye twitched. "You want to make fun of him now after what happened earlier?" he asked seriously. Beast Boy made a circle with his thumb and forefinger in an 'okay, I gotcha' gesture.

Element looked at his brother irritably. "Gamer, what are you thinking? Pyramid Head? You can't fight as him, he's way too slow." he pointed out.

Pyramid Head swiveled his unusual head around to look at Element, before Gamer's "voice" echoed through the heads of all the Titans.

"_I'm not using him to fight. All I have to do is destroy that plate, so that's what I'm going to do. Nobody said I have to hurry to do it_." he commented.

Pyramid Head began to move towards the metal plate, the Great Knife in his hand dragging along the ground in a grinding, squealing sound, not unlike the unpleasant sound of nails on a chalkboard. Because of the weight of the Great Knife, it took him a few seconds to move over to the plate.

Stopping in front of it, Pyramid Head drew his body back a little in a gesture that showed he was about to bring the knife up and over. Using all of the incredible strength of this game character he had changed into, Gamer/Pyramid Head brought the Great Knife up over his head and let gravity bring the knife's great weight down through the alloy plate, cutting it in two. The Great Knife didn't even suffer a knick as it slammed into the ground after cutting through the metal.

Terra clapped her hands. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed.

Pyramid Head was suddenly engulfed in white light and disappeared, replaced by the Gamer in his usual form.

"Oh, you are magnificent with the large bladed weapons, Friend Gamer!" Starfire complimented.

Gamer blushed. "Thanks, Starfire." he said, glad that he had been so impressive.

Looking at the time on his wrist display, Cyborg addressed the others. "Well, since we're done here, I guess I'd better get to building rooms for you guys. Starfire, want to give me a hand? I might need you to help with the ceilings." he requested.

Starfire nodded. "I would be glad to help you, Cyborg." she answered brightly.

Robin put away his staff. "I've got some stuff still to look over in the crime lab. Terra, Raven? Why don't you two take Element and the Gamer into town and help them find some material to make some uniforms for themselves. Beast Boy, you might as well go with them."

Raven nodded. "Sure. Nothing better to do right now, aside from meditate, read a book, and dangle Beast Boy above the stove." she said in her "joking" tone.

Gamer put away his controller. "Alright. We get to make some superhero costumes. Let's get going." he said, heading for the room's exit.

* * *

That's all for this chapter. I know that nothing much happened here, but this is just to show Gamer and Element getting settled in and used to living with the others.

Next time, Element and the Gamer will finally have the costumes of Titans, and Element will learn what Raven really thinks about him. Cyborg will finish building Gamer's room and Element will help him start on his.

Gamer, meanwhile, will put his plan into action to start getting closer to Starfire, but how's he going to do it without getting in Robin's way… and on his nerves? I hope you all stick around, because the competition for Starfire's affection starts with Element and the Gamer Chapter 5: The rivalry begins.

See you next time!


	5. The rivalry begins

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks as always to TitanGirlzRox and thanks also to Death Jester.

Gamer Disclaimer: I don't own _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_, Rockstar Games does. Fuel is a song by my favorite band, Metallica. Teen Titans ain't mine either.

* * *

Chapter 5: The rivalry begins

The elevator doors opened and its occupants stepped out. Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, Element and the Gamer were all going to head into the city to do some shopping for clothing materials, so that the two brothers could make some superhero uniforms for themselves.

Raven was puzzled as to why they had gone down into the garage. "You know, Cyborg never lets anyone else drive the T-car. So I don't know why we're down here". Indicating Beast Boy, Terra and herself, she continued. "We could all just fly, and we could carry you two." she said, pointing to the twins.

The Gamer shook his head. "Nah. We're going to go in style." he said, grinning. He walked ahead of the group towards the middle of the garage. Pulling out his controller, he went through the familiar motion of button pushing and thumbstick rotating, before pushing the START button. Consumed in the subsequent white light for a moment, Gamer disappeared. When the light faded, the Titans looked on the result, stunned.

Resting before them in the middle of the garage was a bright red car. It was shiny, sleek, had brand new everything, and was a gorgeous piece of machinery.

Beast Boy's eyes bugged out and a string of drool ran from his lower lip. "Dude. What kind of car is that?" he asked in absolute amazement, instantly in love with the car.

Gamer answered him telepathically. "_It's a Cheetah, from _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_. I _love_ this car! I also like the Banshees too. Come on guys, hop in._" Both doors on the car opened on their own and the front seats folded forward, so that two of the passengers could sit in the back seat.

"_Beast Boy and Terra had better sit in the back. You guys are shorter than Raven and Element, so you'll have more leg room. Sorry that I'm not a 4-door car, but none of the really sweet cars in that game come with four doors. Element, behind the wheel. Raven, shotgun seat. Let's cruise!_"

Beast Boy was a little irked with the "short" comment, but figured that Gamer was right. "Can I drive on the way back, though?" he asked Gamer.

"_Beast Boy… I'm the car. I do the driving. You guys all just sit back and enjoy. You can sit up front if you want, if it's alright with Element and Raven to sit in the back. Not as much room._"

Element nodded to Beast Boy, agreeing to let him sit behind the wheel on the way back and pretend he was driving. Raven also nodded to Terra, giving her permission to switch seats on the return ride.

Beast Boy and Terra climbed in through the doors and into the back seat. As they sat down next to each other, the seatbelts ran across their bodies and secured themselves. Gamer's control over this form was absolute, and he was doing all the usual tasks of riding in a car for them. How thoughtful.

The front seats moved back into their normal positions, and Element and Raven climbed in. The doors shut and the engine started.  
Element looked down at the dashboard. "Now don't go doing any crazy driving, Gamer. You don't want any of us getting sick, because I have no problem with puking all over you're upholstery and I'm sure none of these guys do either. So take it easy." he warned.

"_You worry too much, bro. Relax, I'll make sure that this is a smooth ride. Remember, Cheetahs have the best performance in _GTA: Vice City_. Well, that's debatable, but they're the best in my opinion anyway. Here we go._"

The car slowly moved forward until it came to the door that opened into the tunnel that went under the bay and into the city. When the car got close enough, the door automatically slid up. The gas pedal then mashed to the floor and the car zoomed off, reaching a speed of 80 miles per hour in a matter of seconds. With no obstructions in the tunnel, Gamer pushed the Cheetah to full throttle, tearing down the tunnel in the impressive vehicle.

Inside the car, the four passengers couldn't decide whether they were more terrified or exhilarated as the car continued to go faster and faster.

The radio suddenly kicked into life, with the static sound of channels being surfed through. When it finally settled on a specific channel, the loud, aggressive voice of Metallica's James Hetfield came blaring through.

"Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire! Ooooooo!"

The windows rolled down and the Titans could all feel the wind in the tunnel rushing around their heads. This was awesome!

Coming to the end of the tunnel, the Cheetah slowed down as it went up the ramp, coming to a stop. The door at the top slid back, allowing access onto the road. The car's back tires began to turn fast, but the car wasn't going anywhere. The rubber was really starting to burn and the smell was getting to the Titans.

Frustrated, Element spoke to the car again. "Gamer, quit messing around. You said you were going to take it easyyyyaahhhh!"

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" the other Titans screamed along with him as the car suddenly lurched forward and shot up the ramp, sailing right into the air. The Cheetah flew over the traffic, clearing not one, not two, but _three_ other cars before descending back to earth, landing on the street with an impact that was cushioned and absorbed much more than the terrified passengers had expected it to be. They barely felt the jolt.

Raven was quickly loosing her temper. "Gamer, I realize that you want to show off, but doing it while we are all riding inside of you is NOT the right time to be doing it. Cut it out." she said sternly.

The side windows rolled up slightly for a second, before going back down again; Gamer's way of shrugging while he was in car form.

"_Sorry. Just wanted to treat you guys to some of this baby's capabilities. I'm done having fun now._" he said, sheepishly.

Terra was grinning wildly. "I'm not! Let's do that again on the way back!"

Beast Boy was equally excited. "Yeah, lets!" he agreed.

Element and Raven both turned and looked into the back seat at the two. "NO!" they both shouted with finality.

Drawing back, Terra leaned over and whispered to her boyfriend. "You know, those two really do belong together.".

Gamer whispered to them in their minds, "_Tell me about it._"

As the car pulled up to a red light, the Titans inside all heard a commotion on the left side of the street.

"Help, someone! He stole my purse!" a woman was screaming out. Sure enough, in typical cliché daytime criminal activity, a man in his early twenties was running across the street with the lady's purse in his hands. Two police men who had heard her cries were now running to catch him, but it was pretty clear that they were not going to make it, as they both had large bellies. Go figure.

The thief was now reaching the right side of the street and ran right in front of the cheetah. He turned to his right, running around the passenger side, very close to the car.

As he was running past, the passenger door suddenly snapped open, hitting the thief. The man was picked up by the force and flung beyond the sidewalk and into the brick wall of the building on the side of the street. Knocked unconscious, the man fell to the ground and didn't move.

The two policemen who had been running after him finally arrived and bent down to cuff him and take the purse he had stolen.

The car door closed. One of the cops looked up and saw Raven sitting in the car, instantly recognizing her as one of the Teen Titans. He tipped his officer's hat to her and said, "Thank you."

A little surprised, Raven simply nodded back. She had done nothing. The door had opened and creamed the thief by itself. Gamer was the one who had taken him out.

Having watched this whole thing from the back seat, Beast Boy could not hold his amazement. "Nice one, Gamer." he said in awe.

"_Thanks. The life of a superhero is always busy, right?_"

------

A short while later, the five young superheroes walked in through the doors of Jump City's mall, one of the most massive buildings in town. The place was enormous, and none of the five Titans had ever shopped there for clothes, so they were pretty much at a loss as to where to start. Being the only one with any sort of game plan, Gamer turned around and look at his companions.

"Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Finding clothing stores should be easy enough, but finding some good accessories to go with my new outfit might be tough. Beast Boy, you're good and locating stuff like that, so you, Terra and I will all go look around." he said.

He then turned to Raven. "Raven, why don't you and Element go and see if you can find anything for his costume."

Element crossed his arms and frowned. "And we're splitting up because...?" he demanded.

Gamer smirked. "Because the three of us want to actually have some fun while we're here and we don't want you two bumming us out with your sarcasm and lack of enthusiasm". he stated plainly. With that, Beast Boy, Terra and the Gamer all turned and headed for the escalators, leaving Raven and Element alone at the entrance.

Watching the three hyper Titans leave, Element turned to Raven. "Sorry, but Gamer doesn't have a lot of tact".

Raven shrugged. "Its just as well. We'd both get annoyed having to deal with those three all day" she said plainly. Element nodded in response. Raven began walking along the lower level and Element followed after her. He had just arrived in town a week ago, and didn't know his way around all that well. He'd be better off following her judgment.

------

On the second floor of the mall, Beast Boy and Terra walked hand in hand, Gamer following them. They had stopped at the mall directory to find out where some likely clothing stores were, and were now counting off the stores they passed until they came to it.

Taking a look back, Terra noticed that Gamer was not following her and Beast Boy anymore. He had stopped in front of another of the mall's stores and seemed to just be staring, wide-eyed.

Stopping, she nudged Beast Boy and pointed behind them. "What's up with him?" she asked curiously.

Beast Boy shrugged. "I don't know. Let's go find out". He and Terra made their way back to where Gamer had stopped.

Coming up next to him, they looked up at the name of the store. Game Stop. Ah, so that answered their question. Looking inside, the two could see that the walls of the store were lined with games for numerous consoles, as well as controllers, memory cards and player's guides. Gamer was staring in at all this as if hypnotized.

"I've never seen a game store as big as this one" he said in a disbelieving voice. "Can we just…?" he asked, implying his desire.

Beast Boy arched an eyebrow. "Gamer, you can _be_ any of those games. Why would you want to settle for just playing it?" he asked.

Gamer blinked and seemed to shrug off his odd state. "Sorry. I am _the_ Gamer, after all. Just habit I guess" he said, blushing slightly at his embarrassing behavior. "Uh, let's keep going." He then moved past his two friends and continued on the way the directory said the clothing store would be.

Beast Boy chuckled a little. "Did you see the way he was looking at those games? Like a kid staring in a candy store." he said with a grin.

Terra smirked at him and put on a sly face. "Well, that's kinda the same look you had the last time we were here and we walked past that Victoria's Secret store." she said to him.

Beast Boy blushed like mad. "Uh, heh, yeah. That. Well, I was only imagining what you would look like in one of _those_."

Now it was Terra's turn to blush like crazy. She swatted him on the back of the head, her irritation only half-serious, and then took his arm and led him after Gamer.

------

Much later, Element had picked out some spandex pieces that he felt would suit him fine for a uniform. He had also picked out some boots, gloves, and some fabric that he could use to put something on the shirt piece, and he could use the rest to make a simple mask. Robin had the right idea with that. With a mask on, not only would people not recognize him, but they wouldn't be able to read him through his eyes and expression. He'd be able to hide behind it, and that appealed to him.

He examined all his selected items once more, deciding that it would work fine. About to take his items to the counter to pay for them, Element looked at the store's front window, which looked out into the mall. Element could see his reflection in the window… and Raven's reflection behind him. Raven was staring at him. Curious, Element turned around to look at Raven. Now she was looking away, examining some girl's black clothing.

Element raised his eyebrow, but thought nothing more of it, although it was weird. After paying for his clothing items, Element walked with Raven back out into the mall.

Raven turned to him. "You've got good style at least. You kept yours plain enough." she said.

Element shrugged. "I don't care how I look." he said simply.

Raven raised her eyebrow. "Not at all?".

He shook his head. "No. I don't like to make big deals out of things that everyone else thinks is so important. A lot of the things that people hold in such high regard are actually rather pointless, if you ask me. I don't care about a lot of things, and people think I'm weird because of it." he said to her, not looking at her while he said it.

Raven looked down at the ground. What she wanted to say in response to that might have sounded odd coming from her. But Element had only known her for a few days, so didn't know as much about her as the others. And none of them were around to hear, so she wouldn't get teased about it. Coming to a decision, she turned her head to him.

"I don't think you're weird" she said, almost in a whisper.

Element turned to look at her, genuinely surprised. "You don't?"

Raven shook her head. "No. What you said, it makes perfect sense to me. You and I kind of hold the same views. I can understand you better than the others." she said, feeling embarrassed, like she had said too much.

Element stopped walking, and a moment later, Raven stopped as well and turned back to him.

Element looked at her carefully for a moment, then asked, "You really mean that?", still unable to believe that anyone would say that to him.

Raven nodded… then a very slight smile appeared on her lips as she turned away and kept walking, to find the others.

Element stayed still for a moment. He thought over what Raven had said, and that little smile she had given him. Then the implications of it came to him, and for the first time in his life, Element felt his heart flutter just the slightest bit. His pulse quickened and he was suddenly a little short of breath.

The corners of his mouth tugged upward a little as the first true happiness he'd felt since gaining his powers began to flow through him. It was unbelievable, but he couldn't ignore it. Raven liked him! He didn't know if it was the same way that he liked her, but she at least enjoyed his company. She'd said that she understood him. She was the first person he knew of, besides Gamer, who actually _wanted_ him around simply because of who he was.

Realizing that she was getting further away, Element jogged to catch up, not daring to look at her, for fear of letting his emotions break through his uncaring expression.

------

Heading down the escalator, Beast Boy, Terra and the Gamer saw Raven and Element heading their way. They noted that Element held a bag, presumably with the clothing items that he'd use to make a costume. Gamer looked at his own bags, which contained his future outfit and some cool accessories.

The trio met up with the pair a moment later. "So, get everything you need?" Gamer asked his brother.

Element held up his bag. "Yeah". He looked at his brother's bags, wondering what else he had bought to go with his suit.

"Well, let's head back to the tower." Terra suggested.

The group exited the mall and walked out into the parking lot. Gamer stood in the middle of an empty parking spot, pulled out his remote and went through the motions. After the light faded, the Cheetah was sitting in the parking spot, sparkling in all its shiny glory.

Beast Boy smiled. "I get to sit behind the wheel this time!" he called out.

The car doors opened and the seats slid forward. Element and Raven both shook their heads and got into the back seat. The seats slid back again, allowing Beast Boy and Terra to take the front seats. Gamer buckled them all in and started his engine.

Beast Boy put his hands on the steering wheel, feeling it turn in his hands as Gamer backed out of the spot and headed for the exit to the parking lot. He knew he wasn't really driving, but he could pretend.

Metallica music began playing over the radio again. Element frowned.

"Gamer, I thought _GTA: Vice City_ didn't have any Metallica in it, so how are you playing it in this car?" he asked.

"_You can download other music tracts into the game, so I put my twenty favorite Metallica songs into it. So that means that my controller let's me play it too when I'm one of the cars from the game._" he explained.

Terra grinned and looked at the pair in the back. "I think this music is boss."

Beast Boy nodded and smiled at her. "Yeah, way boss."

Raven and Element looked at each other and shook their heads, smirking. They continued to look at each other for a few moments, before realizing that the other was not turning away. Quickly, they both turned their heads to look out the car windows, both having a slight blush.

------

It was about four in the afternoon. Robin was still in the crime lab, Cyborg and Starfire were almost done setting up a room for Gamer, and Beast Boy and Terra were playing Gamestation. Raven meditated in the corner. She had used her power to fuse the letters onto Element and the Gamer's new uniforms, but beyond that, she didn't know how far along they were in making themselves up. She and the two on the couch were waiting for the two brothers to come out of the storage room, where they were trying on their new outfits for the first time.

The door to the living room opened and out stepped the two new Titans. Beast Boy and Terra paused their game and turned to look.

"Cool." they both said at once.

Raven opened her eyes and looked to the room's entrance. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed the brothers, taking special notice of Element. He wore a spandex outfit, like Beast Boy's only it was all light gray, like his regular t-shirt. He work black boots and black gloves.

On his right elbow was an armband with a fire design. On this left elbow was an armband with wavy lines, signifying wind. On his right knee was a leg band designed as water. On his left knee was a leg band designed to look like rocks or dirt clods all packed close together, signifying earth. Water, wind, earth and fire, the four most well known elements.

On the center of his chest was a large black 'E', for Element. He wore a black mask that stretched behind his head. His eyes could hardly be seen behind the mask, and it covered his nose to the tip. Starfire would later realize that it looked like the mask Robin would wear someday, when he became Nightwing.

Next to him, the Gamer also wore a full spandex suit, all red like his regular t-shirt. He also wore black boots and black gloves. On his chest, over his heart, in the same spot where Robin's 'R' was located, the words **_The Gamer_** were written in black italic.

On his waist was a black belt. On the right side of the belt was compartment where his N64 game controller resided, no longer bulging from his back pocket, now within easier reach. Across his eyes were a pair of sunglasses that were on an elastic band that stretched across the back of his head, like Terra's goggles. They were so darkly tinted, nothing could be seen of his green eyes.

Raven and Terra both noticed how well defined the boys were. They were not as muscular as Robin, but it was clear that they both had worked out or gotten some decent exercise before joining the team, as their muscles were very noticeable in the spandex.

Gamer spread his arms a little. "So, how do we look?" he asked. Element looked at Raven, caring only about her opinion.

Raven looked back at Element, unaware that she was staring. Looking over his costume, she turned her attention to his face. He seemed quite comfortable with his new look, despite not really caring about how he looked... or much of anything else. She could not see his eyes through the mask, but that somehow made him seem a bit darker, more mysterious than he already was. A single lock of his neatly parted brown hair fell over the top edge of his mask, on the right side, and for some reason, this created a picture that Raven had never before seen and an emotion that she had never felt. She suddenly realized how handsome he was, and this outfit, particularly that mask, made it even more obvious. With his eyes and the top of his nose covered and that single short lock of brown hair falling partly over it, she thought that she had never seen anything quite so sexy. She was shocked to realize that she had never had a thought like that before either.

Realizing that she was staring, Raven turned away from him and examined Gamer.

"Not bad." she managed to say.

Beast Boy and Terra stood up. "Yeah, you guys look awesome." Beast Boy said.

The door opened behind the brothers and they both turned to see Starfire and Cyborg enter the room.

"Whoa. Look at you guys. Now you really do look like part of the team." Cyborg remarked.

Gamer smiled. "Thanks. Uh, what do you think Starfire?" he asked, blushing.

Starfire looked him up and down, putting a hand under her chin. "I believe 'cool' is the appropriate earth word, yes? Indeed you both look very cool." she said, smiling.

Gamer's face broke into an enormous grin, and he lifted the sunglasses up to rest them on the top of his head. "Thanks." he said to her, blushing even more.

Cyborg looked at the Gamer. "We've got your room done, Gamer. There was a lot of extra space between the rooms in our hall, so Star and I took down part of the wall and cleared out an opening. We've got extra carpet in the storage room that we can lay down, and I've already made a window for ya and connected the room to the ventilation system, but beyond that, the room's totally bare. You got any ideas where you can get a bed?" he asked.

Gamer scratched his head and turned to Element. "I suppose I could call Mom and have her ship all my stuff here. We need to let her and Dad know that we made it to the Titans anyway." he said, a sad look coming to his face. Element mirrored the expression.

The other Titans all looked at each other, remembering what the brothers had said about being asked to leave their home because of their powers.

The door opened again and Robin stepped out. "Hey guys. Oh, you got your uniforms. Not bad. Now you're definitely part of the team."

The boys brightened again… well, Gamer did, Element never had a bright expression anyway.

Cyborg looked to Robin. "Yeah, Starfire and I completed making Gamer's room. Its between mine and BB's. Now we just need to carve out one for Element. But we don't have anymore room in our wing of the tower. Element, you wouldn't mind having your room be at the front of the girl's wing, would you?" Cyborg asked.

Element shrugged. "It doesn't make any difference to me." he said, not caring where they put his room.

Gamer nodded. "Well cool. You'll be able to set your room up soon with all the nature stuff you want and I'll have Mom send mine here." He turned to Starfire, looking nervous. "Um, Starfire, will you help me set up my room when my stuff gets here? Some of my furniture is kinda heavy." he said, trying to set up some time with her.

Robin frowned. "Can't you just turn into a strong character from some videogame and lift it yourself?" he asked, trying to discourage what Gamer was attempting.

Gamer thought for a moment. "Yeah, but I'm not sure how to set it all up. Starfire is good with decoration, so she can point out where stuff can go to look good and whatnot." he said, realizing how pathetic it was, but he would try anything.

Starfire giggled that wonderful giggle of hers. "I would be happy to help you arrange you room, friend Gamer." she said to him, earning a smile from Gamer.

Robin lifted a hand, about to protest, then dropped it at his side in defeat. Score one for the Gamer, who never lost any game, video or otherwise.

Element shook his head, then said to them all, "Well, if you guys don't mind, I'm going to go test my new costume and form to the ocean outside. If you'll excuse me." he nodded to Raven and headed for the elevator, Raven watching him go until the elevator doors closed.

Robin looked up from the floor at the Gamer. "Hey Gamer, can I talk to you. In the crime lab." he said, a serious tone in his voice. Gamer felt that he knew what this was about and figured that he and Robin did need to talk about it. "Sure." he said, and the two left the room.

Beast Boy and Terra went back to the couch and picked up the controllers, about to resume their game.

Terra turned to Beast Boy. "You think Robin's going to give him the 'stay away from my girl' speech?" she asked.

Beast Boy shrugged. "I don't know. When it comes to Starfire, you can never tell what Robin's going to do. But maybe having Gamer around, trying to hit on her, will force Robin to finally make a move." he said, grinning.

Terra grinned back. "I hope so".

------

Robin entered the crime lab, Game right behind him. As soon as the doors closed, Robin turned around. "We need to have a talk." he said plainly.

Gamer nodded. "Yeah, I guess we do."

Robin crossed his arms and thought a moment. "Listen, Gamer. I understand you liking Starfire. A lot of guys do. But you see, she's a friend of mine." he said.

Gamer nodded. "Uh huh."

Robin nodded as well. "So what I'm trying to say is… she's a friend of mine." he said again, more final this time.

Gamer almost laughed. "You want her just as much as I do is what you're trying to say." He stated matter-of-factly.

Robin's face suddenly looked shocked. "What! No, no, that's not it at a-"

Gamer held up a hand. "Spare me the denial, man. _Everybody_ knows you're crazy about her. Your friends, your enemies, even the fans out there. Do you know how many rumors go around about you two? Every time you and Starfire are doing _anything_ alone together, people start posting on the internet that you two might be on a date. You're not hiding anything, Robin. The only person who doesn't know that you like Starfire… is Starfire. And the only reason she doesn't know is because you've never given any clues to her."

Robin stared at Gamer in shock at this revelation.

Gamer shook his head. "Look man. Its not that I'm trying to take her away from you. I'm not. Its just, I like her too. And I deserve the chance to try and get her to like me back, don't I? I know its probably not going to happen. I don't match up to you, and I know it. But you had your chance. You've had hundreds of chances to let her know, to be honest. But now that I'm here, you feel like you don't have all the time in the world anymore, right?"

Robin didn't respond, an answer in itself.

Gamer continued. "All I want is a chance to get to know her. Like you have. Maybe she'll like me, maybe not. Probably not, but I want to try. And I shouldn't' have to deny myself that opportunity just because you suddenly feel threatened, should I?"

Robin still said nothing, only looked down at the floor.

Gamer finished his speech. "You feel like your special place in her life is in danger of being replaced by me. Its not. I'm just wanting to get close to her, that's all. I want to be a deep friend to her, like you are. If she starts to like me, then that's the way it is. But I deserve the chance to try. That's fair, right?" he asked.

Robin thought for a moment, then answered in a whisper. "Yeah."

Gamer nodded. "Okay. So you and I both want Starfire. Only one of us can get her, the other will be forced to remain her friend forever. Its most likely going to be you, but there is a chance that it could be me. So how about a little friendly competition? I spend time with her, you spend time with her. We both show her how important she is to us, and the choice is up to her. Sound good?" he asked, hoping Robin would agree to what he was suggesting.

Robin put his hand under his chin, thinking it over. What Gamer said did make sense. And he had even said himself that Starfire was more likely to fall in love with him than with Gamer. It seemed he finally had the incentive he needed to let Starfire know how he felt about her. Coming to a decision, Robin held out his hand. "Deal." he said finally. He and Gamer shook hands.

"Let the game begin. A game that I might actually lose." Gamer said, amused. He turned to go, but Robin stopped him.

"Gamer, wait." Robin said.

Gamer turned around, wondering what was up. It seemed to him that they had sorted everything out. "What is it?" he asked.

Robin motioned him over to his desk, where many newspaper clippings and various leads were spread out, all of them about Slade.

"I've been thinking about that battle yesterday at the construction site. Slade sent Cinderblock and Plasmus there with some mission, but I don't know what. There was nothing special about that site. After going over the whole thing, I realized something; Cinderblock and Plasmus only started attacking us after you and Element showed up. The rest of the time, only those robots attacked. It was like they were waiting for you to show up." he said.

Gamer frowned. "You're thinking what? That Slade wanted them to fight me and Element?" he asked unsure.

Robin shrugged. "I don't know. I've never been able to figure out Slade's games until he tells me directly. But I think that he may have his sights set on you and Element now. You guys are new in town, maybe he wanted to test you. Whatever it is, it can't be good for you. Terra, Raven and I have all been targeted by Slade. Whatever he wants you two for, he'll let us know before too long. You can bet on that." he told his friend ominously.

Gamer crossed his arms. "Well, these are two new Titans who are ready to fight if he wants one. Whatever he think he can use us for, he's going to be in for a big surprise."

Robin smiled. Despite their competition, he really liked Gamer, and was glad that he had agreed to bringing him and Element into the Titans.

"You know, with an attitude like that, you really will make an excellent Titan."

* * *

That's all for this chapter.

Next time, Element and the Gamer will start to live the lives of the Titans. Time goes on, their rooms are made, bonds are formed between Element and Raven and the Gamer and Starfire, Robin and Gamer get their competition underway, Doctor Light and Control Freak both get a taste of the brothers' power in their first battles as Titans. Come back for Element and the Gamer chapter 6: Life in the tower. See you then!


	6. Life in the tower

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks to TitanGirlzRox, Death Jester and Wingz.

Gamer Disclaimer: I don't own _Kirby's Dreamland _or _Tekken 2. _Nor do I own Teen Titans.

* * *

Chapter 6: Life in the tower

Four days passed.

The Titans went about their days as usual, training, combat practice, reading, watching TV, playing games, and making out in the case of Beast Boy and Terra.

Element and the Gamer had shown what they could do on the obstacle course, the weight training room and combat practice, impressing the other six Titans at every session. The two brothers were definitely born for being superheroes like them, and the other Titans couldn't wait to go into battle with them at their sides as official members of the team.

Gamer had called his parents, who lived back in Colorado. After letting them know that he and Element were alright and had taken up residence with the Teen Titans themselves, Gamer requested that they send all of his personal effects to Jump City. Every thing from his game systems to his bed. None of the other Titans listened in on this phone call, not wanting to pry into the past of their new friends.

Element had spent the nights absorbed into various surfaces and objects in the tower without complaint. Cyborg had just finished opening a new room in the girls' bedroom wing of the tower for him. Element couldn't have cared less where they put his room, as long as he'd be able to filter sunlight into it for the plants he planned to put in.

Cyborg had made his room go down another level, so he installed a staircase where Element could get down to the floor. The walls went up a good twenty feet. Element had questioned Cyborg about a glass roof, but Cyborg said he had a better idea. With the help of some new technology he had developed, Cyborg could make Element's ceiling become transparent on the inside, allowing sunlight to come in. But anyone who went up on the roof would not see it, as the special material would stay the same consistency of the roof, leaving it undisturbed. This way, nobody would have to step around a glass section of roof, or worry about falling through.

Cyborg did not consider the idea of Starfire walking across this section. If Element looked up as she did, he would see right up her skirt. However, since Element did not care about such a thing, nor about who would be walking across his ceiling and therefore would not look up, it didn't really matter that Cyborg never took this thought into account.

So Element had put in an order for soil, various plants and small trees, rocks, humidifiers, all sorts of thing that went into the creation of an arboretum or a green house. Element's room would be a nature room for all intents and purposes. A small jungle contained within the tower, and Element would be able to fuse with his own little piece of nature to his heart's content.

During these days, neither Element nor the Gamer had made any real progress with Raven and Starfire, but they were in no hurry. Raven and Element had shared a few looks across the room, nods, and even subtle, almost hidden smiles, but that was it. Any time they spoke to one another, it was always formal and to the point.

Gamer had spent as much time as he could around Starfire, whenever Robin wasn't near her. He didn't know if she had picked up on what he was trying to do, but he knew that she would eventually.

And now, here it was, one full week since the Titans had met Element and the Gamer in their triumphant battle against the Hive Five. On this Saturday afternoon, the eight Titans were all gathered around a large round table that Cyborg had set up in the living room, playing poker. It had taken some convincing to get Raven and Element to join them, as neither of them really cared about such games. But eventually they had come around.

Going around the table clockwise, the Titans sat in this way: Robin, Starfire, Gamer, Element, Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, Cyborg, back to Robin. None of them were broke yet, but some clearly had more poker chips than others. Needless to say, Gamer was winning, so he had the most chips of all.

Starfire was the dealer, being that she could shuffle the cards better than anyone else. Plus, she was the least likely person at the table to cheat, so she could be trusted with the cards. Not being very skilled or familiar with the game, Starfire kept showing her cards to Robin, asking him in a whisper if she had a good set.

Amusingly, this was the reason why Robin was doing poorest. Knowing what cards Starfire had gave him an advantage over her and she didn't really know much about the game. Because of that, he just couldn't bring himself to lay down his cards if he had a better hand than she did. Everyone else at the table knew that this was the reason why he had the least amount of chips, why he was always folding, and why he was going to be the first one to lose. They all thought that it was rather sweet of him. Pathetic, but sweet.

Terra laid down two cards, face down. "I'll take two" she said. Starfire pushed two cards off the top of the deck to Terra. She picked them up and added them to her cards.

"Okay." Cyborg said. "I call."

Examining her cards once again, Starfire, lacking a poker face, beamed brightly. Seeing this, Robin knew that she thought she had a good hand. Not wanting to take the chance that his cards were better than hers, Robin threw his cards down. "I fold." He said.

Beast Boy put down his cards. "Me too." he said in defeat.

Element looked at his cards without concern. They were not in his hand, so much as _on_ his hand. He had absorbed the cards into each finger, so the cards technically were his fingers now. Putting his hand out, he cancelled out the effect and the cards flopped down on the table. "Don't know what it is, but it looks good to me." he said, uncaring. His cards were 8,4,3, 10, and 5.

Raven laid out her cards. "Straight flush." she said in her usual monotone. Her cards read 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Grinning, Terra laid out her cards. "Straight flush here too." Her cards were 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Smiling brightly, Starfire laid her cards down on the table. "The house I have is full!" she exclaimed, excited. Her cards were Aces over Jacks.

Robin smiled. "You mean you have a full house, Starfire."

Blushing, Starfire nodded. "Yes, that is what I meant."

Cyborg looked back at his cards. "Aw, forget it." he said frustrated, throwing the cards down.

Gamer smirked and put down his cards. "Royal flush. All spades." he said victoriously.

The others all groaned, not surprised in the least that Gamer had won yet again. Gamer reached into the middle of the table and swept all the chips to his ever-growing pile.

"You truly are the champion of the poker, friend Gamer!" Starfire said, throwing her arms up into the air, to signify her excitement at having a master of such a popular game residing under their roof.

As she put her arms up, they brushed against her… well, her _grebnaks_, causing them to bounce ever so slightly. Robin and Gamer both noticed this and stared for a moment, their faces reddening slightly.

Not wanting to be seen staring, they both looked up from the view and caught each others' eyes. They both saw the reddening of their cheeks and knew what the other had been looking at. Robin scowled at Gamer for looking, while Gamer smirked at Robin, giving him a look that seemed to say, _And just what were _you_ looking at, hmm?_

Realizing that Gamer could use this against him, Robin turned away, knowing that he was just as guilty for staring at Starfire like that and that Gamer knew it. Gamer didn't care if the others knew what he thought of Starfire. He had been making it painfully obvious. Robin on the other hand was not ready to handle the others knowing that he thought about her that way, and hoped that none of them had seen what just happened. But the others had all been gathering up their cards and did not notice what he and Gamer had been looking at, or their momentary stand-off over it.

Beast Boy rubbed his forhead. "Maybe we should try-" he began. He was interrupted, however, by the alarm going off. The Titans all stood up. This was the first alert to be issued since that Monday when Cinderblock and Plasmus had attacked. They all headed to the alert screen to see what the emergency was.

Looking at it for a moment, Cyborg put a hand to his forehead and chuckled. "It's Dr. Light. He's trying to rob the bank near the park."

Robin crossed his arms, smirking. "Well, this shouldn't be too much of a problem." Turning to his newest members, he grinned and continued. "You guys are going to get a kick out of this. Dr. Light is the easiest villain to beat in the whole city. You can consider this your initiation battle, your first fight as Titans."

Beast Boy laughed. "Yeah. I can't wait to see the look on his face when these two guys bust him up." Terra giggled at this thought as well.

Element crossed his arms. "You'd think that our first fight would be a bit more challenging, like that Red X guy. Well, let's go get this over with."

Gamer lowered his sunglasses over his eyes. "Yeah. Time to put the doctor's lights out."

Robin looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You're not trying to take my job of saying one-liners too, are you?

------

Dr. Light exited the bank holding a large sack full of money. This robbery had gone well. He had managed to break in, subdue all the employees and security guards, and grab all the money in the bank in a very short space of time. He had pulled it off before those annoying juveniles could interfere.

Now that he had enough cash, he could persuade Gizmo to hand over some of that new technology he was going to be accessing soon. If it was as top of the line as he'd heard it was going to be, then maybe he would have something to help improve his light suit.

Hoisting the sack over his shoulder, he prepared to take off.

"You know, for a guy with the word 'light' in his name, you're really not very bright." an infuriatingly familiar voice said out loud.

Dr. Light turned to his right and saw his old enemies, the Teen Titans, standing in the street, battle stances ready. There seemed to be more of them than usual. He noted two boys of similar height, one in a gray uniform wearing a mask, another in a red uniform and wearing a pair of shades.

Setting down the money bag, Dr. Light charged up his light emitters. "You think you are going to take me down as easily as you have in the past, do you? Well, think again. You can only defeat Dr. Light so many times, before you become dazed yourselves." he said cockily.

Beast Boy shook his head. "Jeez, this guy's lines get worse and worse every time."

Robin looked at the brothers. "Okay. You guys go ahead. Go easy on him though, it's only Dr. Light." he said in a joking manner.

Cyborg looked down at them. "And this is the last time that you guys get to hog all the glory. The last two fights we had, you guys stole the show. After this, we all fight together, alright." he said, crossing his arms.

Gamer shrugged. "Hey, it's not our fault that you guys took too long to start fighting back the last time." Stepping forward, Element and the Gamer stood as tall as they could, trying to look cool. Well, Gamer was trying to look cool; Element was trying to look serious.

Dr. Light sneered. "You think a pair of sunglasses can shield you from the power of Dr. Light?" he asked, laughing maniacally.

Gamer shook his head. "They aren't for protection, weirdo. They are a disguise. Haven't you ever seen _The Matrix_? Nobody can see my eyes, so it's harder to remember what my face looks like if they see me. And it's cooler than a mask. Masks are so cliché." he said, nodding his head to Element.

Element glared at his brother for a moment, before turning his attention back to Dr. Light. "Well, let's get this over with. You make the first move, Doc." he said in his bored voice.

Dr. Light bristled. He hated being called "Doc". "Very well, my young friend. You will be the first to see the light!" he declared, before raising his hand and firing a beam of amplified light at Element.

Holding up a hand, Element allowed the beam of light to make contact with his palm. Before any damage could be done to his body, Element absorbed the light, changing his whole body. In a blinding flash, his body reconstituted itself to the particles of light. The other Titans had to look away for a moment because of the blinding radiance.

When they looked back, Element stood as a being of pure light.

Starfire pumped her fist into the air. "Yes, friend Element! Kick the butt!"

Raven smiled slightly, unnoticed by the others. "Go Element." she said quietly in monotone.

Dr. Light stared at this, his jaw dropped nearly to the sidewalk. He continued to stand there and stare as Element walked towards him. Coming to a stop in front of the mad doctor, Element raised a fist, stuck out two fingers, and poked Dr. Light in the eyes, Three Stooges style.

With the boy's body being made out of light, Dr. Light felt no feeling of impact on his eyes. Instead, there was a burning sensation as incredibly intense light flooded his pupils. Although he had spent a great deal of time staring at bright lights, not even Dr. Light could withstand light this strong being forced directly into his eyes. The doctor grabbed his face, screaming in pain.

Element stepped away, knowing that the doctor was incapacitated enough to not pose a threat for a while. If he were lucky, his eyesight would recover completely. If not, he might have to wear glasses from now on after this. Nobody would feel sorry for him, as he had tried to destroy the Titans on many occasions.

Looking to his brother, Element said, "Your turn." And he stepped back, letting the light leave his body as he took on his normal flesh again.

Gamer took his N64 controller from the side of his belt. He didn't even need to change into a game character to take down this guy. Holding the controller forward, the cord snaked out of it and whipped through the air, much longer than the cord of a normal game controller. The cord wrapped itself around Dr. Light's feet. Pulling tight, Gamer pulled the doctor's feet out from under him.

"Oof!" Dr. Light exclaimed as he hit the ground, his hands still covering his momentarily blinded eyes.

Pulling with all his strength, Gamer began to spin the doctor around. Although he had no enhancements, he was rather strong for a typical 16-year old. He wasn't nearly as strong as Robin, but it was enough. Add to that the fact that Dr. Light was such a scrawny, wimpy guy who only weighed one hundred and forty pounds even with his light suit. Gamer was able to spin around in a circle, whipping Dr. Light through the air by his feet, the cord to the controller the only thing keeping him from flying off.

Straining his muscles to their limit, tired and hurting from the pressure, Gamer spun around ten times, increasing the speed with every turn, before commanding the cord to finally unwrapped itself from Dr. Light's feet. The doctor was sent flying through the air, colliding with a brick wall on the other side of the street.

All the Titans drew back and uttered a collective "Ooooo."

Terra grimaced. "You know that hurt."

Beast Boy nodded beside her. "Yeah. Gamer kicks butt even without a game character."

Gamer retracted the cord back into his controller and replaced it on his belt. He turned to Element. "Why don't you finish him off."

Element nodded and sank into the street. The Titans could all see that familiar outline of a human body in the asphalt. It moved up to where Dr. Light was lying on the sidewalk against the brick building. The image then moved up the wall, letting them know that Element had passed into the building itself.

Rubbing his sore head, which had hit the building wall, Dr. Light stood up. He rubbed his eyes, which were now beginning to clear. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. An arm made of the consistency of brick extended from an otherwise normal brick wall. The hand formed into a fist and punched Dr. Light in the face. The doctor staggered, seeing stars everywhere, but did not fall. The brick arm punched twice more and the doctor sank to the ground, defeated.

Raven raised a hand and coated a dumpster in the alley next to the building with her dark energies. She moved the dumpster over to where the doctor lay. Element stepped out of the wall and opened the lid to the dumpster.

"Thanks Raven." he called over to her. Raven nodded.

Element bent down, picked up Dr. Light by the front of his suit with both hands, and tossed him into the dumpster. He then shut the lid and bolted it.

"Until the authorities get here." he said.

Robin stepped up to the sidewalk in front of the bank and picked up the money bag that Dr. Light had set down.

"I think I'll return this now." he said, going in through the bank doors to give the money back.

------

Another week passed.

Gamer's belongings had finally arrived and he and Starfire were now setting everything up in his designated room. Robin had also offered to help as well, clearly not liking the idea of Starfire and the Gamer being alone together in the same room, behind a closed door. But Gamer had pulled Robin aside and explained to him that he had no intention of trying anything other than getting closer to Starfire, friendship-wise. That would be the first big step in getting her to like him more.

Starfire and Gamer were now finishing the last touch; they were setting Gamer's entertainment center into place. He had his own television and all his many different game consoles on it, as well as his DVD player and a massive collection of various games and movies.

Setting the center down in the right spot at last, Gamer stepped back and wiped his brow with the back of his hand.

"And now done at last. I'm finally home. Thanks for helping me with this, Starfire." Gamer smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up.

Starfire giggled that wonderful giggle of hers and smiled back. "You are most welcome, friend Gamer."

Gamer cocked an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling behind his sunglasses, hiding the twinkle from her view. "You know, Starfire, we've known each other for two weeks now. You don't have to call me 'friend' all the time. I know we are friends. You can just call me Gamer if you want." he said to her.

Starfire nodded and floated a few inches off the carpeted floor. "Very well, Gamer." she said with a smile, before floating over to the other side of the room.

Gamer watched her go and then looked around at his new room. It was spacey enough. Had a window on the far wall that gave a wonderful view of the ocean. His entertainment center was on the wall to the right as you walk in through the door. He had various posters pinned up on the walls, most of them coming with the _Resident Evil_ games that he owned, as well as a poster with Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach on a poster for _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_, one of his two favorite movies. His closet over in the left corner. His bed in the corner immediately to the left of the door and…

Wait… Starfire had settled herself down on Gamer's bed and was sitting on the edge. Smiling at Gamer, she patted a spot next to her, beaconing him to sit down next to her. On the bed. Gamer gulped, his forehead breaking out into a small bit of sweat and his pulse increasing slightly.

This was a little bit more than he had intended. He didn't know if sitting right next to her, on his bed, in his own room, with the door closed, would follow his agreement with Robin. It seemed to be a breach of the boundaries. But Starfire was looking at him expectantly and this was indeed a chance to get closer to her, in more ways than one. He couldn't pass up an opportunity that presented itself like this.

A bit nervously, he sat down next to her on her right and they surveyed the entire room from their position.

"Looks nice, huh?" he asked her, not sure what to talk about.

Starfire nodded. "You have a very interesting life-style, Gamer."

Silence followed for a few more moments, then Starfire looked at Gamer with a somewhat more serious expression. Gamer wasn't sure what this look was supposed to mean. Had he already gotten her to like him without really trying, or was she about to tell him to stop spending so much time around her?

"Gamer, I wish to thank you for spending so much time with me." she said plainly.

Gamer gulped again. "Uh, what do you mean?"

Starfire looked down at the ground, smiling and blushing lightly. "Well… I have noticed since your arrival that you have taken great pains to be my friend. You have spent time with me when you could have been doing better things; you have told me many of your jokes and explained them so that I could understand. You have given me many compliments and showed an interest in what I have to say, without being impatient at my lack of understanding about earth culture."

Gamer was blushing now. He had done all those things, but he didn't realize that she had noticed it so easily, or that it had meant so much to her.

"Well, like I said when we met, I'm probably your biggest fan. I always wanted to get to know you. I haven't done anything that a true friend wouldn't do." he said, sheepishly.

Starfire smiled at him. "I know. That is why, even though I have not known you for very long, you are one of my deepest friends. In fact, only Robin and I share a stronger bond than the one I have formed with you."

Gamer almost fell off the bed. He was her second best friend! So he was second to Robin, big deal. He had expected that to be the case from the beginning. But to have gotten so far on her friendship list in only two weeks, and without even knowing that she appreciated it that much… wow. That was completely unexpected. Apparently he was more charming than he gave himself credit for. He had already become the second most important person to Starfire. Even if Robin won their little contest, he would have bragging rights about that.

The Gamer lifted up his sunglasses, something he only ever did when talking seriously to her. Gamer smiled at her.

"You don't know how much that means to me, Star. You have no idea. I'm glad that you think of me as… such a good friend." he blushed again and turned away.

Starfire leaned in and hugged him tightly, something Gamer never got used to. Or tired of.

"You are again most welcome, Gamer." she said, beaming.

After she released him, the two sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, not sure what else to talk about. Then, an idea hit Gamer. He had noticed in the last couple of weeks that small animals made Starfire simply melt. She also liked pink and generally cute things. He had something in mind that she might appreciate.

Turning to her, Gamer raised an eyebrow and spoke in his smoothest, slyest voice. "Want me to do a special trick for you?"

Starfire's eyebrows shot up. "Yes! I would love to see you perform a trick!"

Standing up from the bed, Gamer walked to the middle of the room and turned back to face her. He took his controller from his belt and began rotating the thumb stick and pushing buttons in a seemingly random manner.

"Watch this." he said excitedly, then pushed the START button.

Gamer disappeared in the usual blinding white light. Squinting her eyes, Starfire tried to see what it was moving within the radiance, but to no avail. When the light faded, Gamer was gone. In his place was a small creature. It was the size and shape of a basket ball, with pink skin that seemed to be made of rubber or plastic. It had two cute little black eyes, cheeks tinted a dark pink in a seemingly eternal blush, and a mouth in the center of its round body. It had two stubby little arms with no fingers that she could see, and two little red shoes on the bottom of its body, presumably for walking.

Starfire gasped as she looked at this little thing. It was the most adorable little creature she had seen since Beast Boy had shown her Silkie. Standing up from the bed, Starfire clasped her hands together in front of her chest and stepped towards it.

"What… what is it?" she asked, almost in a whisper. When the Gamer answered her, it was in a small, squeaky, child-like voice, just as cute as the creature the voice belonged to.

"I'm Kirby, from _Kirby's Dreamland_." the little animal said.

Then, the little thing started to do tricks. First, Gamer used Kirby's floating ability to swoop around the room in circles. Then, it started doing summersaults and cartwheels. Then, he started to punch the air in a rapid fire way that made the little rubbery, extendable arms disappear with the speed they were going. He began hopping and chanting and rolling, making adorable little squeaks and squalls the whole time.

Starfire laughed uncontrollably through all this, unable to look away from the amazing scene. When Gamer stopped moving and smiled up at her with his cute little Kirby face, Starfire could contain herself no longer.

She walked over to the little creature and scooped him up in her arms, hugging him strongly to her chest and rubbing her cheek against the top of its little pink forhead.

"Oh, you are amazing as this adorable little Kirby creature, friend Gamer!" she said in delight.

Gamer didn't even bother correcting her for saying "friend" again. This was wonderful. Starfire was hugging him, not out of friendship, but out of a pure happy emotion brought on by the appearance of his current form and the abilities he performed with it. He was going to enjoy this moment as long as possible.

------

And more time passed. Now a month had gone by since Element and the Gamer entered the Titans' lives and there were no regrets among any of the residents of the tower.

Not a lot of crime had been committed in town this last month. Other than the battles with the Hive Five, Cinderblock and Plasmus, and Dr. Light, most other crimes had been done by amateurs who were committing petty theft and such. With eight members, the Titans had divided up the chore of dealing with these small time crooks.

Every other time a crime was committed, one of the teams would head out and deal with it. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and the Gamer were on team one, while Raven, Beast Boy, Terra and Element made up team two. It was a fairly efficient way to handle the decreased crime wave.

During these last two weeks, Starfire had spent a great deal of time with both Robin and Gamer. When she was not spending time with one of them, she was usually spending time with the other. It was not clear to any of the other Titans just who was earning the most attention from her. Robin and Gamer themselves didn't know which of them she liked better.

Gamer knew from his talk with Starfire in his room that she thought of him as her second best friend, but in the time since then, she might have grown to care about him even more. He certainly didn't even expect to be her second best friend so soon, so why not?

Robin wasn't sure about it either. He spent most of the mornings on the roof with Starfire, watching the sunrise. He knew it was special to her. Then, after the sun had risen and they went back inside, she would immediately head to the living room and take videogame lessons from Gamer. She seemed to enjoy these sessions every bit as much as their morning sun-watching ritual. He knew that if he didn't get up the courage to formally ask her out soon, Gamer would beat him to it, and Starfire just might fall for him completely. But for now, their competition was at a stalemate.

Also over the last two weeks, Element had finally moved into his room. All of the soil, rocks, plants, humidifiers, and insect specimens that he had ordered had finally come in, a few loads at a time. Element had formed himself to stone and lifted all these loads to his room with little effort.

Before that, Cyborg had installed the special ceiling for him. The others had been up on the roof since its completion and could not tell where the spot was without recalling where Element's room was located. Nobody could see into Element's room from the roof, because the roof seemed to have been completely unchanged at all.

After that, Element had requested that Cyborg help install some force field generators in the corners of the room and near the door, so that the humid atmosphere that he planned to create would not leak into the rest of the tower, as well as to keep in the insect specimens that he would be taking in.

Element's room had been bare then, and nobody had seen his room since his products had arrived. Not even Gamer had entered the room. Gamer knew how his brother was, how private he liked to live. He would be invited in eventually, when Element needed to talk to him. Until then, he had a pretty good idea of what his brother's room looked like and wouldn't go pestering him about it. Nobody else did either, although Beast Boy and Terra were practically dying from curiosity. But nobody had been inside.

Which was why Raven now stood outside of Element's room at 1:20 on this Friday afternoon. Her curiosity was a bit different than the others'. Raven knew that Element was even more reclusive and private than she was; more anti-social. And she wanted to know why.

She had her own reasons for being like that. Her emotions had to be kept in check constantly to keep them from unleashing disaster. But Element… that was a different case. Raven was determined to understand him. To figure out this boy who she had taken an interest in.

And that was another thing that eventually drove her to this moment. She had admitted in the last month that she thought about Element differently than she did about the other boys. Most likely because of how similar he was to her own style. All the other boys were handsome, and although she would never say so to their faces, she had never denied that to herself. But Element was the only boy she had ever met who was handsome in a way that she really noticed.

She realized that she had begun down a road that would probably take her closer to him. She was developing a crush on him, if she hadn't already, and it was time to face up to that before her emotions started manifesting it for the world to see. The last thing she needed was for them to do a repeat of the Wicked Scary incident while putting in some clues as to what she thought about Element. She'd never be able to face any of them again if that happened.

So now, Raven stood outside Element's door, ready to be the first to even attempt asking permission to enter. If she saw the environment he lived in, maybe she'd learn more about him. Maybe then, once she knew more about what went on inside his head, she'd be able to either embrace this new emotion she was experiencing, or begin the process of filtering it out and going on as she always had. Just because she was taking an interest in Element didn't necessarily mean that it was the best thing, and she needed to know if that was the case before she began to needlessly explore the new emotion.

Raven raised her hand, made a fist, and gently knocked on Element's door three times. At first, there was no response. Just the quiet fading of her knocking, echoing in the hallway. Then, after a moment, there was a quiet response.

"Come in." she heard Element say.

Taking a deep breath, Raven pushed the button next to the door and it slide open. Raven stepped inside, the door closing behind her. Raven's eyes widened slightly as she looked around.

The room was a combination jungle, swamp, park and forest, all in one. There were small pine trees around the room, giving it a forest look. A small pond was in the middle, with many weeds and moss growing in and around it, giving it the swamp look. There were empty spots where plain dirt or bright green grass stretched undisturbed, giving it the feeling of being in a park. And there was a lot of humidity and moisture in the air, and the ticking of many insects crawling and flying around, which helped to create the jungle feel.

Raven began to walk down the stairs that led to the floor of this little nature room. The ground was partially covered by a thin lair of white mist that stretched across the room, emanated by the small humidifiers and misters along the walls of the room.

As she began to walk between the small trees and towards the pond, Raven noticed a small stream that slowly trickled all around the edges of the room. Because of the nature setting, the room appeared much larger than it actually was, although it was certainly a lot taller than any of the other Titans' rooms.

Looking up, Raven could see the blue sky overhead, despite the fact that there was no glass and the roof looked the same when looking back from the other direction. Cyborg had been right; that new material he created really was one-way. Sunlight was filtering in and feeding the plants and trees, but nobody could see into the room from that way.

Arriving now at the pond in the center of the room, Raven looked around. She didn't see Element anywhere, but she didn't let that fool her. He could be anywhere, as any substance. She could also feel his presence. He was close.

"Element. Where are you?" she asked to the seemingly empty room.

A pine tree to her right suddenly seemed to twist. Its top portion seemed to turn around, creating a crackling sound as bits of bark fell off of its mass. The tree swiveled around until the opposite side was now facing Raven.

Looking at it, Raven could see that the top branches seemed to form a vague outline of a humanoid head. The branches near the middle seemed to be like arms. And on the bark near the top, was something that could have been a face. Then, a normal sounding voice spoke to her.

"I'm right here." Element said.

Raven stared back, no expression on her face. "Let me guess; you're trying out for the part of TreeBeard in a _Lord of the Rings_ remake?" she joked in her sarcastic yet monotone voice.

The tree then untwisted itself and stood upright once more. From the trunk of it, in front of her, emerged Element, now back to normal size and flesh. His gray spandex uniform didn't have a speck on it. His black mask, which had shielded his green eyes constantly over the last month, was still overlapped by that one lock of brown hair that fell over it. Raven always stared at that for a moment whenever she saw him.

"Just forming myself to the elements. What do you think of my sanctuary?" he asked, looking around his room.

Raven was unsure how to reply. "It sure is… damp."

Element nodded. "Yeah. Got to keep everything in good health. I spend my time mostly as the plants and trees. They perform actual functions, like creating oxygen. I've been the dirt and the water a few times. Even the mist."

He walked a little closer to her and she could see that he was doing that even now. His booted feet held the texture of the wet ground he was walking on and everything from his ankles to his shins was nothing but a white mist. How his upper body, which was still flesh and bone, was staying upright with only mist for lower legs, she did not know.

"What did you want?" he asked her, getting to the point.

Raven turned away slightly, unsure of how she could put it without seeming weird. "I just… wanted to see what you've got in here. We haven't seen you around the tower very much in the last few days and the others are getting curious. I thought I'd see for myself and then tell them so they'll stop talking about it. If you don't mind, that is." she said, slightly nervous but not showing it.

Element shook his head. "No, I don't mind. I was actually expecting someone to come by sooner. I don't care if you guys see my room." he stated plainly.

Raven nodded, then put her hood up over her head, suddenly seeming to be in a hurry.

"Well, I'm sorry that I bothered you while you were forming. I won't invade on your sanctuary again. Just wanted to see it this once, is all." she said, turning around to leave.

Element took a quick step forward. "No. That's okay. You are no bother at all."

Raven looked back around at him, a little surprised. "Really?"

Element nodded again, his mouth forming what might almost have been a smile on a happier boy. "You are welcome to come here anytime you want." he said in a soft, almost gentle voice. "You don't even have to knock. Just come right in. I don't mind."

Raven blushed slightly at the thought that this brought on. "I don't' think that would be such a good idea. I wouldn't want to… walk in on you." she said, trying to avoid saying exactly what she meant, but giving him a hint with a slight squinting of her eyes.

Element's eyes widened as he got it, and he almost blushed himself. "Don't worry about that." he clarified. "I haven't taken this uniform off since I first put it on. And until I grow too big for it, I probably won't ever have to."

Raven frowned, puzzled. Realizing that he needed to explain further, he continued.

"When I change to another chemical element and then change back, my flesh is instantly cleansed. One hundred percent cleanliness, every time. And since I absorb a lot of elements all the time, I'm almost always clean. I haven't had to bathe or wash my clothes once since I got my powers." he explained.

Raven's eyebrows went up in surprise at this.

Element smiled at her surprise. "So don't worry about just walking in. You can come in anytime."

Raven thought about that, then nodded. "Okay. Maybe I will."

Suddenly, the jewel on her cloak started to flash. The fire armband on Element's right elbow started to flash too. They both looked at each other. Trouble.

------

Control Freak ordered one of the walking, killer TV sets to pick up the bag of jewels. The Titans hadn't shown up yet, and if he was lucky, he'd be outta here before they did. Twirling his remote in one hand, he walked his fat body out of the jewelry store and out onto the sidewalk, a cocky grin on his face; the giant TV walking on the wires snaking out from it's body stepping out after him.

With this many diamonds and rubies and other special gems, Gizmo would probably be willing to trade some of that new tech he'd be getting his hands on soon. If it was as bad news as he'd heard it was going to be, then there would probably be something in there to update his remote with and make it even more powerful than it already was. Since Slade always dealt with top of the line technology, there was no reason to think that Gizmo wouldn't have access to the best stuff.

Turning to the TVs standing out on the sidewalk, all watching him with their glowing red eyes on their screens, Control Freak grinned. "Let's get going before trouble shows up."

Lifting his foot to take the first step away from the scene of the crime, he heard Robin say "Trouble is already here. And it's got your name on it."

Wincing, Control Freak looked to his left down the street. In the middle of the asphalt stood the Titans. Eight of them. So it was true, they had added some new members to their team. That was going to make this a lot tougher than usual.

Tightening his grip on his remote, Control Freak didn't waste time with his usual banter. He had to get out of here with that loot. Gizmo would not trade anything without the highest quality merchandise. He pointed to his enemies.

"Get rid of them!" he shouted to the evil TVs around him. All five of them charged forward, the cords and wires that made up their tentacles waving wildly in the air.

Robin threw a birderang through the air; the sharp metal projectile sliced through the bag of jewels, spilling all of the precious gems out onto the street.

Control Freak really freaked, practically pulling out his long red hair. "No! My loot!". Without thinking, he jumped forward and began scooping up as many jewels as he could.

As the TVs finally reached their targets, a melee began. Beast Boy was the first to attack. Changing into a bull, he charged at one of the TVs. The glowing-eyed evil thing dodged out of the way and tried to grab the green bovine by the horns. But Beast Boy's momentum was too great and the evil television was pulled right along, bouncing on the ground and gaining more damage each time.

Robin and Starfire attacked a second television. Starfire began blasting at all of the tentacles that tried to wrap around her, but there were too many. The cords snaked around her arms and attempted to constrict her.

Starfire's eyes glowed green and in righteous fury she howled into the sky. "Arrrraaaagh!" Her body coated itself in a green light and the cords around her body disintegrated into thin air.

The wicked television set fell back, its limbs severed. "Arrragh!" a less intense but no less furious cry rang out. The TV set turn around only to have Robin's bo staff smash through its picture tube and into the vital electronics within. The TV fell to the ground, defeated.

Terra held an arm in the air, her hands and eyes glowing yellow. She summoned all of the dust particles in the area to her. Focusing her power, she drew all the dust into a wad of dirt the size of a suitcase. Deciding that it was enough, she flung her hand forward, commanding the dirt to fly through the air and towards another of the evil TVs.

The machine was hit with the dirt cloud and was instantly covered with it. Dirt and dust filtered into its workings and the machine became sluggish, its innards choked with dirt.

Cyborg took this opportunity to jump at the machine and use his massive weight to slam a fist into its picture tube. The television nearly broke in half with the impact. But Cyborg did not stop there. Interlocking the fingers of both hands together, he brought the combined fist into the air and slammed it down on top of the living TV. Smashed to junk, the TV fell apart.

A fourth TV confronted Raven and Element. Like you're surprised that they are working together at this point, right?

The TV lifted one of its cords, the one that originally plugged into the wall to supply the electricity to it. The end of the cord sparked with an electrical charge, ready to zap its two victims with the charge.

Seeing one of the diamonds that spilled from the torn loot bag lying on the ground near him, Element dived forward and touched it, just as the TV whipped its cord towards him. The cord should have shocked him with its charge, but instead of hitting soft flesh, it struck solid diamond.The TVblinked its red eyes on its screen, confused by what had happened.

Element stood up, his body and clothing now formed to a solid diamond. He sparkled with the rays of the afternoon sun, casting multi-colored lights in all directions, shining off of parked cars and buildings. Now invulnerable to any attack the wicked TV could make, Element calmly walked up to the confused machine and punched it in its picture tube, shattering it completely.

The TV began thrashing around at the loss of its vision. Element backed away and reformed his normal flesh as Raven stepped forward. Focusing, she put out her hands, preparing to cast a spell.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" she chanted. A disk made of her dark energy appeared in front of her. Thrusting one hand forward, Raven sent the disk flying at the TV. The disk cut right through the moving entertainment box and it fell to the ground in two pieces.

Beast Boy finally stopped his running around in circles and abruptly turned in a 180 to face the TV set that had still not let go of him. Changing into a crocodile, he snapped his powerful jaws down on the cords with enough force to crush rocks. The cords snapped like rubber bands being chopped with an axe.

Changing into a bull again, Beast Boy charged once more. He smashed into the TV, shattering the machine to junk. He then turned back into his pointy-eared human self.

"Who says that TV is bad for you. Seems to me that I'm bad for TV." he joked. Terra giggled at the joke. No one else did.

Gamer had backed away until he was now up against the outside wall of the jewelry store. The TV that had advanced on him still carried the torn loot bag that Robin had sliced open.

Looking down at the ground behind the TV, he noticed that Control Freak had pretty much ignored the whole battle and was stuffing all the jewels into his pockets. He seemed to be desperate to have all those gems. Getting an idea, Gamer shouted to Cyborg.

"Hey Cy, can you shut this thing down? Don't destroy it, just shut it down."

Cyborg looked away from the TV he and Terra had destroyed and turned to where Gamer was being backed up against the wall by the one remaining TV. Extending a cord from his own finger, he ran over to the machine and plugged the cord into one of thesockets on the back of the TV. The possessed television immediately went dark and fell to the ground, but did not break.

Looking over at Control Freak, Gamer smiled wickedly. "I've got something to show you guys." he said, walking over to stand in front of Control Freak. The other Titans all gathered around to watch.

Control Freak stopped gathering up the diamonds and looked up at the Gamer. Gamer's sunglasses stared down into Control Freak's beady blue eyes.

"TV is old entertainment. Videogames are the new standard." With that, Gamer pulled out his controller. Seeing the threat, Control Freak pulled out his remote, prepared to engage in a battle of TV remote vs. videogame controller.

"We'll soon see." he said in a mock sinister voice. He aimed his remote at Gamer.

Before anything else could happen, Gamer whipped his controller forward. The cord in the controller snapped forward and struck Control Freak, who then disappeared in a flash of white light.

The other Titans all looked around, startled and confused.

"Where'd he go?" Robin asked.

Gamer walked over to the decommissioned television set and sat down on the sidewalk. "You'll see." he said. His friends all gathered around as the cord on the controller snaked around to the back side of the TV and plugged itself in.

The TV screen lit up suddenly, with the display of a meadow with agreen forest in the background. Standing in the meadow on the screen,was Control Freak, looking confused about where he was.

"Hey, what happened?" he asked, his voice coming from the sound system of the TV. The other Titans, minus Element, all nearly fell down.

"You can put people into videogames too!" Cyborg nearly shouted. Gamer simply grinned.

Suddenly, on the screen, appeared a man. He was tall, had a mean looking face, with amustache and hair that spiked back in what almost looked like horns. He was very muscular and wore no shirt. He wore purple pants and had wooden sandals on his feet.

A voice from the game suddenly spoke up. "Heihachi" the voice said, introducing the fighter."Control Freak" it said, announcing the opponent."Round one. Fight!".

Gamer smiled at the screen. "Welcome to _Tekken 2_, Control Freak." he said. Cyborg and Beast Boy instantly knew that Control Freak was in trouble. They had both tried to beat Gamer at this game and had failed miserably.

On the screen, Control Freak held out his remote and extended it into a four bladed laser sword. He then ran at Heihachi, preparing to fight. Pushing the buttons on his controller, Gamer commanded Heihachi to block Control Freaks attack and immediately began punching and kicking, using all kinds of combos and special attacks to pummel the fat couch potato into submission.

Control Freak went down and the letters K.O. appeared on the screen. "Heihachi wins!" the game voice said. After a replay of the last seconds of the battle, the two fighters were reset.

"Round two. Fight!"

Control Freak blanched. "Not again!" he said, clearly still sore, as was evident by his many bruises and torn outfit. After a repeat of the same intense bashing of the first round, Control Freak went down again, defeated.

"Heihachi wins!" the game voice said.

Gamer extracted the cord from the TV and the screen went blank again. He whipped the cord through the air and at the moment of its snap effect, Control Freak reappeared in a flash of light, lying on the sidewalk. He was breathing heavily and a small trickle of blood flowed from his lip. He was covered in bruises.

"I give up." he said weakly.

------

Back at the tower, Robin and Starfire were sitting at the kitchen table sharing stories, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing videogames, Raven was reading a book on the couch, Terra was outside, skipping stones off the ocean surface, Element was in his room, and Gamer… was also in his room.

He was trying to figure out what he could do to really get Starfire's attention. He wanted to do something with her. Really do something, and with no one else around to get in the way. But what? What was special enough? The amusement park, the regular park, the beach, all these things she already did with her other friends. It had to be something new. Something that would catch her interest. And maybe, he'd be able to tell her how he really felt about her. Then, no matter what her answer was, he could finally find out who would win this contest; him or Robin.

A sudden knock at the door brought him out of these thoughts. Getting up off of his bed where he had been lying, he walked to the door and opened it. Terra stood there with a pile of papers in her hands.

"Here's your mail, Gamer." she said, handing him a magazine wrapped in plastic.

"Thanks, Terra." he said. They smiled at each other, then Terra turned and walked back down the hall and Gamer closed his door and sat back down on his bed.

He had subscribed to a local gaming magazine after moving in to the tower, and this was the first issue to arrive. He opened the plastic and took out the magazine. As he did, he noticed a piece of paper still in the plastic envelope. He reached in and took it out.

He unfolded the paper and saw what it was. It was an advertisement for a videogame convention being held at the mall. Gamers from all over the state would be showing up, to compete and converse with each other and to see upcoming game titles that would be released soon. The convention was going to take place in eight days. And it said for attendees to bring a friend.

And suddenly, it hit Gamer. This was perfect! He would ask Starfire to go to the convention with him. He knew she wouldn't say no. She liked games too, and she'd want to be polite besides, so it was a sure bet that she'd say yes if he asked her out. They could go to the convention for a while, then maybe to get some lunch, and on the way back to the tower, he could tell her what he really thought about her. Perfect.

The Gamer smiled. Opportunity had knocked again, and again he had been home. Things were definitely looking up.

* * *

That's all for this chapter, and wow was it long. But just wait, bcause these chapters are going to be getting longer. 

In the next chapter, Gamer finally asks Starfire out. But before the day for their date arrives, trouble emerges. The Hive Five are back, but why is Jinx acting so weird? What's Gizmo up to? Does it have something to do with Slade's new plot? Before these questions are answered, Jump City is attacked by… giant killer crabs?

And when the day finally arrives for the big date, Gamer will finally confess his heart to Starfire, but will she return his affections? Or does her heart already belong to another?

Find out in the biggest, longest, most exciting chapter yet, and a major turning point in the story, next time with Element and the Gamer chapter 7- I've got a date with Starfire!- Gamer.

See you guys then!


	7. I've got a date with Starfire!: Gamer

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks to TitanGirlzRox and Death Jester, as always.

Gamer Disclaimer: I don't own _Resident Evil: Code Veronica_, _Halo: Combat Evolved_, or _War of the Monsters. _Nor do I own Teen Titans.

* * *

Chapter 7: I've got a date with Starfire!- Gamer

A week went by. The Gamer felt that it would be best to ask Starfire to go to the videogame convention with him the day before it took place, which was tomorrow, Saturday. So he had not asked her yet, and no one knew it was on his mind.

Robin was walking down the stairs from the roof, Starfire at his side. They had been sitting side by side, watching the sunrise. Robin had woken up this morning with the intent of asking Starfire out today. He had watched her and Gamer get closer and closer over the last month and was now determined to make his move and ask her on a date before Gamer did.

So far, he'd had plenty of time and opportunity to ask her, but had chickened out each time he thought about doing it. He had noticed, however, that on the roof this morning, she had sat much closer to him than she had in the past. They had nearly been touching shoulders. This had made him very nervous, making it even more difficult to ask her what he wanted to. But it also gave him some courage as well. Surely it was a good sign that she felt comfortable sitting so close to him, right?

As Robin and Starfire entered the living room, they both looked over to the kitchen. Beast Boy and Cyborg were not preparing breakfast, as they usually did. Instead, they were on the couch playing that new fighting game that Gamer had bought. Apparently it was make-your-own-breakfast day in the tower.

Robin noticed that Gamer was not playing. He was sitting on the far end of the couch, reading one of his gaming magazines.

Terra was on the other end of the couch, flipping through a sports magazine of all things. Terra was a bit of a tomboy.

Looking at the kitchen table, Robin couldn't help but smile a little. Raven and Element were sitting across from each other, drinking herbal tea and talking about something. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it didn't matter. The fact was that the two of them were actually having a conversation, where as they always seemed to try to be quiet and out of the way whenever they were by themselves.

Robin had noticed over the last few weeks that Raven had been getting a bit closer to Element, little by little. He was really happy that Raven had _finally_ found someone to converse with about any little thing. She had always been so quiet and distant from everybody when there was nothing to do but hang around the tower, but now that Element was living with them, she seemed to be opening up a little.

And Element, he was even more of a case. While none of them knew very much about him, Robin could tell that it was doing Element good to finally have someone to relate to as well. He was not aware that he and Gamer agreed completely on this subject. If they ever got together romantically, Raven and Element were going to be very good for each other. Robin was the last person in the world to have read the book on love and romance, but even he could see where their future would be headed if they ever did hook up. But as it was, even now as mere friends, they were clearly enjoying each other's company, and that was good for both of them. He decided not to bother them.

Starfire also noticed Element and Raven and smiled as well, thinking the same thoughts Robin was. But Starfire could see something that Robin could not; Silkie was worming his way under Raven's chair and was going to bite her cloak. That would not only halt her conversation with Element, but she would also have to leave the room and replace her cloak, and there was no telling when she and Element would get a chance to speak to each other so casually without anyone else around to bother them. That scenario simply could not be tolerated.

"Silkie!" Starfire shouted to her grub worm. Silkie closed his mouth, which he had opened to bite Raven's cloak and looked over to his "mommy". Starfire stood with her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. She pointed her finger towards the hallway door, giving Silkie the command to go back to her room where he belonged. Lowering his head in guilt for having been caught misbehaving, Silkie slinked away.

Raven and Element looked down at Silkie's retreating form, looked up at Starfire, who smiled brightly at them, and then shrugged and turned back to each other, picking up where they had left off.

Wanting to leave them alone for now, Starfire decided that she would come back to make herself something to eat later, when Raven and Element had finished their conversation at the table. She walked to the entertainment area and stood in front of the window, gazing out at the view of the bay, the beach and the city. It was a beautiful day outside. She really hoped that she and her friends would get a chance to go out in it at some point today. Little did she know, she would get just that, although not quite in the way she expected.

Seeing Starfire standing away from the others, who were all occupied at the moment with their own things, Robin decided that now would be as good a time as any. Seeing Raven talking with Element seemed to give him a little bit more confidence in his desire to ask Starfire out on a formal date. After all, if those two could begin showing interest in each other with everyone else around to see, and not be bothered by it, what excuse did he have for being held back? He still did not know the answer to that, but he wasn't going to let it bother him any further. Now was the opportunity, now he had the courage; now was the time.

Gulping back his nervousness and taking in a deep breath of air, Robin took three steps in Starfire's direction… and stopped when he saw Gamer put down his magazine and stand up from the couch, walking up next to Starfire. Robin stood in place and watched, ready to read his lips to see what he was going to say to her, but there was no need; everyone in the room was able to hear what Gamer said.

"Good morning, Starfire. How are you today?" Gamer asked with a pleasant, although somewhat nervous smile. Starfire turned to him and smiled as well.

"I am very well this morning, Gamer. Thank you for asking." she said brightly, her smile shining like the sunlight coming in through the window she stood in front of.

Gamer nodded. "That's good." He paused for a moment and shifted on his feet, seeming uncertain about something he wanted to say. Finally, he looked back up at her face, his sunglasses, which he wore almost perpetually now, reflecting her gorgeous face on their lenses.

"I was wondering, are you planning on doing anything important tomorrow, say from 10:00 to 2:00?" he asked, almost hurriedly. Starfire tilted her head in curiosity, and thought about the question.

"I do not believe so. Why do you ask?" she responded.

Gamer took a deep breath. "Well, it's just… there is a videogame convention being held tomorrow at the mall. I was going to go to it, and I was wondering… would uh, would you like to go to it with me?" He let out a breath as he finally let the words escape.

Robin's mouth fell open. Everyone in the room looked up from what they were doing and turned their eyes to Starfire, although pretending like they were still going about their business. Even Element and Raven at the kitchen table paused in their discussion for a moment, their eyes quickly darting over to Starfire and then back to each other. Everyone felt like they were on the edge of a cliff, waiting to hear what Starfire's response would be, no one listening more intently than Robin.

Starfire stared at the Gamer in shock and surprise. Her eyes widened a little and her mouth opened slightly as took in a sharp breath. Gamer stood there, looking alternately from the ground to Starfire, although only his eyes moved. With his sunglasses hiding his eyes, it appeared that he kept looking only at her the whole time. Gamer realized that she was only staring at him and became discouraged, certain that she would not accept his offer.

Finally, Starfire responded with a question. "Gamer, are you asking me to accompany you on… a_ date_?" she asked, making sure she used the right word.

His hands shaking, Gamer simply nodded, this time lowering his entire head to look at the floor, embarrassed and nervous.

Finally, Starfire's surprised expression slowly changed into a small smile. She blinked her eyes a few times and turned her whole body to face Gamer.

"I would very much enjoy that. Yes, I will go with you to this _convention_." She said simply.

Gamer looked up at her sharply. "You will?" he asked, more surprised than he thought he would have been if she'd said yes. He couldn't believe that she'd accepted and needed to hear her confirm it one more time.

Starfire nodded her head in the affirmative, and then giggled that wonderful giggle of hers.

Gamer blushed immensely and his face broke out into a grin that could only be described as ecstatic. "Alright! Wow! I mean, uh, cool heh. I guess we'll head over to the mall tomorrow at ten tomorrow, then?" he asked, making sure the time was convenient.

Starfire nodded again and happily floated away from Gamer across the room, through the twin doors and into the hallway, twirling in the air at her sudden excitement. She had been asked out on a date! True, it was not by who she expected her first date would be with, but it had happened nonetheless, and she just couldn't have said no to it. Starfire floated into her room and flopped down on her bed, thinking excitedly about how she would have her first date tomorrow. She could definitely learn many things from such an experience, and perhaps it could help her in the future on… another date. Should anyone _else_ ever ask her that was.

Back in the living room, the eyes of all the other Titans turned to Robin, who still stood in the middle of the room. No one was even bothering to pretend they hadn't been listening in, as they could tell that Robin wasn't noticing them at all at the moment.

Robin stood there, staring at the spot where Starfire had been standing. He had been about to ask her. He had finally summoned up the nerve to do it. That had been _his_ moment. He couldn't have been any more than, what… _twelve seconds_ from talking to her, leading him into finally asking her on a date. And then Gamer…

Robin realized that Gamer was looking at him now too, and despite the eye-obscuring sunglasses, Robin could tell by the look on his face and the set of his shoulders, just what he was thinking. Robin had waited too long. He'd had his chance, plenty of them, and they both knew it. Gamer had waited a month, intentionally giving Robin all that time to make his move, willing to be sporting enough to give Robin a chance first at agame he was almost certain to win anyway. And now Gamer's generous patience had run out. Robin had lost his opportunity now, and Starfire was going on a date with Gamer instead of _him._

Robin clenched his hand into a fist and shook in place at the anger welling up inside of him. He tried to direct all that anger at the Gamer, but he could not. The only anger he could put to Gamer was jealous anger. The real anger he was feeling, he felt for himself. He'd had all this time, over a year before Gamer even came along, to let Starfire know how he felt. Then, even with Gamer's competition with him, he had held back. Why, he knew not.

But it didn't matter now. He had blown it. Starfire was going on a date tomorrow with another boy and he had no one to blame but himself.

Now starting to feel the eyes of the others on him, Robin turned and headed to the elevator, ready to take it down to the training room. He was going to take out his frustration on a punching bag, and it was a sure bet that the dinosaurs had been dealt a much kinder fate than the one Robin was about to bestow upon that bag.

Just then, the alarm went off. Perfect. Maybe Robin wouldn't need a bag to take out his frustration on after all.

Terra put down her magazine and got up off the couch. Raven and Element stood up from the kitchen table. Starfire flew into the living room from the hallway.

"Oh man!" Cyborg yelled, throwing down his game controller. "And I was hoping that we wouldn't get called today." he said, standing up and pressing a button on the TV, changing it to the alert screen. On a map of the city, a flashing light came from an electronics store downtown. A flashing 'H' was shown next to the spot.

"The Hive Five. They're back." Robin said, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

Beast Boy was also anxious. "Let's go kick their butts! And no hogging all the fun this time either, E & G." he said to the brothers, before turning with the others to head to the elevator.

Element and the Gamer looked across the room at each other, raising their eyebrows in confusion and disbelief.

"E & G?" they both asked each other.

------

Electronics Now was the most well known electronics store in the city. Today, it was being robbed by a group of teenagers. Now, in today's world that would not seem like anything new, except that these teens were gifted with super abilities, ones that they were using to wreck havoc instead of help others.

"Hurry up! We need to get this stuff out of here before the Titans show up!" Gizmo shouted to his comrades. Gizmo was calling the shots today, as this was really his mission. He had loaded all kinds of microchips and small hand-held devices into his backpack already.

Mammoth was carrying out the large televisions and other heavy items. Kyd Wykkyd was making off with large quantities of CD players and videogames. See-More was using his eye to scan the interior of certain electronic items to see if they held the components that Gizmo said he'd be needing, then pointing them out to Mammoth and Kyd Wykkyd.. Jinx stood outside in back of the store, where a large pile of equipment had already been stacked, counting off what they had and how much of it. Gizmo had said that he didn't know what he'd need or how much of it, so they were all pretty much just grabbing everything they could so as not to take chances. If Gizmo did not have enough supplies to complete his assignment, the penalty for it could be gruesome.

Looking at a clock that extended from his backpack on a mechanical arm, Gizmo saw that enough time had passed since the alert had been raise that the Teen Titans would show up any time now. It was time for them to leave.

Withdrawing the clock, he spoke out to his team. "Okay, that's enough for now. We'll take what we got from here and hit another place on another day." He jumped down from the counter, behind which a clerk would normally be ringing up orders. But the Hive Five had already chased everyone out of the store, not wanting any distractions.

As Gizmo prepared to exit through the back door and help carry some of the stuff they had lifted and piled back there, he heard Robin's familiar voice.

"Hold it. You're not going anywhere, except to the nearest jail." Turning around, Gizmo saw all the Titans standing in the doorway, having just entered the store. Gizmo was abit surprised that Robin had not used a one-liner like he usually did, but closer examination of his face seemed to hint that Robin was reasonably frustrated about something at the moment; too frustrated to be making a joke of his team's intent at apprehending the Hive team.

Gizmo also noticed that the two boyswho had defeated them so easily before were now among the other Titans, confirming the stories to be true. The boy who had worn a gray shirt now wore a gray spandex suit with a black mask, a black 'E' on his chest, and bands at his knees and elbows, depicting earth, fire, wind and water.

The other boy, who had worn a red shirt, now wore a red spandex suit with **_The Gamer_** in small black italic over his heart, a belt that held that infernal game controller, and apair of rather cool-looking sunglasses, with an elastic strap wrapping them around his head.

The other Hive members closed in and backed up Gizmo, ready to fight, but not wanting to, clearly being outnumbered and outmatched.

Cyborg cracked his metallic knuckles and smirked. "Since when do you guys resort to robbing TVs and stereos? Loosing your ambition?" he mocked them.

Gizmo smirked back, displaying much more confidence than he felt. They weren't prepared to battle the Titans now. "Oh, we have a lot of ambition left. Just wait. Someday soon you'll see what all this stuff was for. Then you'll know how far back your doom was set in motion." He said, rather lamely, remembering that he was not to reveal the nature of the project.

Robin took out his staff and extended it. "I don't care what your plan is. You're not taking that stuff anywhere. Titans, Go!" Robin shouted, before planting his staff on the ground and using it to swing forward.

Jinx immediately turned and ran for the back door, wishing to fight the Titans even less than her male assistants. She had a very good reason for not wanting to fight them. Robin ran after her down the alley that ran behind the store, determined not to let her get away. Terra, preferring to be outside where she would have access to dirt, followed after him, in case he needed help.

Gizmo extended a pair of mechanical wings from his backpack and took to the air, flying around the store to avoid the blasts from Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Stay still so I can zap you!" Cyborg shouted at him, firing one sonic blast after another and scorching the ceiling.

"No way, barf-brain!" Gizmo retorted. Beast Boy turned into a Pteranadon and began flying after Gizmo, snapping his dino beak at the midget the whole time.

Kyd Wykkyd flew up to Raven and wrapped himself around her, making her and himself disappear. They reappeared outside, high above the store's roof, where Raven would not have access to very many objects to throw. Raven smirked at the silent villain.

"Thanks for giving me some room. Ayah!" she shouted, before beginning to fiercely kick at Kyd Wykkyd with the martial arts skills she possessed. Her mute opponent began dodging and blocking her attacks.

Back in the store, Starfire and Element had trapped See-More, who had been trying to sneak down one of the aisles in the back. Both of them stood at opposite ends of the aisle, ready to grab the cycloptic criminal and put him down until the authorities arrived.

See-More looked back and forth between them, knowing he was trapped. Getting an idea, he turned and looked at Starfire, suddenly developing a perverted grin.

"I never did get a very good view of you last time." he said with a peculiar tone in his voice. He switched his eye over to X-ray vision. Starfire immediately gasped and ducked back out of the aisle. Had Robin or Gamer been there when See-More had done that, they would have smacked the daylights out of him for it.

Switching his sight back to normal, See-More turned back around to face Element, recognizing him as the boy who had harnessed electricity during their last battle and easily defeated Jinx and himself.

Element called out, "Don't worry Starfire, I'll take this guy. Why don't you go see if you can help Cyborg and Beast Boy catch Gizmo."

Not daring to step back into the aisle, for fear of See-More looking through her clothes, Starfire called out her response to Element. "Very well, friend Element. Be careful." She then took the air and began flying after Gizmo, who was still trying to dodge Cyborg and Beast Boy all over the store.

Facing down Element, See-More knew that he had a better chance of beating him if he attacked before he absorbed anything. See-More fired a laser from his eye, which cut through the air and smacked into Element's face, with non-lethal but very stinging force.

"Oof." Element said, before falling down flat on his back. But the second he hit the tiled floor, he vanished into it. To See-More, it looked almost as though he had fallen right _through_ the floor.

Suddenly, there was a cracking and a popping sound. Then, right before See-More's bewildered eye, the tiles on the floor began to pull off of the floor and rise into the air. They clacked together, like they were connected on their edges. As a number of them broke away from the floor, he could see that some of them branched out, seeming almost to form arms. And the ones still connected to the floor, looked almost like legs. And that one at the top... a head?

Incredible as the idea sounded, it seemed as though Element had absorbed himself into the tiles and wrenched them from the floor, using them as his body parts. He now stood as a non-symmetrical being made of tile,his body now composedof squares and flat when looked at from the side.

Element swept his arm forward, flinging a tile from himself towards See-More, who reacted quickly, zapping the tile out of the air, shattering it. Element sent another tile and another, walking forward as he did, pulling more tiles out of the floor and into himself as he walked, giving himself an indefinite amount of ammunition against See-More.

Meanwhile, Mammoth had face down the Gamer. "Show me the Tyrant again, scrawny one. I will not be caught by surprise this time." he said in his gruff voice. Gamer pulled out his game controller, twirling it like acowboy twirling a pistol.

"Okay then." he said, beginning to push buttons while rotating the thumb stick. After pushing START and being consumed in the white light, Gamer stood as a Tyrant once again. But this was not the Tyrant he had used to beat Mammoth with a single hit the last time. This one was different. This one, while having a similar structure to the previous Tyrant, had no exposed heart, did not have its lips removed, and it did not have hands.

Instead, its arms came to rounded stumps, small claws along the outer edges. Four on the left,five on the right, with one in the middle of the right stump. Lifting this arm, the small claw in the middle suddenly shot out of the game monster's flesh, becoming a long blade made of bone. This was Tyrant T-078, from _Resident Evil: Code Veronica_.

"_Man, I love using these things. I'm a Teen Titan Tyrant. I'm a… a Teen Tyrant, hahaha!_" Gamer said in his telepathic voice. He looked down at Mammoth, who was much smaller than he was now, at ten feet tall. "_You asked for it, so you get first try. Give me all you've got._" he said to his opponent.

Mammoth grinned and charged forward, ramming into the Tyrant's gut with his shoulder, then pulling back and delivering two concrete smashing punches to its midsection. Then he pulled back his hands, linked them together to form one fist, and swung his arms as hard as he could, up at the Tyrant's pale, hairless head.

Gamer's Tyrant head turned with the impact, but showed no other reaction to that attack or any of the other blows Mammoth had delivered. Pulling back his left arm, Gamer pushed out, slamming the end of his club arm into Mammoth's chest, sending the goliath flying back and smashing into the back wall of the near-empty store, where he slid down the wall to the floor.

Gizmo spun around in the air and sent a small missile at Starfire. The small rocket struck her in the forehead and exploded, not really harming her, but knocking her out of the air with asmoking black mark on her forehead. As she was falling, Beast Boy flew right into her, knocking them both for a loop.

Gizmo ducked under another sonic blast from a frustrated Cyborg, and called out, "We don't have time for this! Retreat! Grab the stuff we came for and retreat!" Sending another missile down at Cyborg, who ducked out of the way with a "Whoa!", Gizmo flew to the back of the store and right out the back door.

Mammoth pulled himself up off the ground and looked at the Gamer, who was slowly walking toward him. The one drawback of his game forms was that Gamer inherited every weakness of his characters, and for this Tyrant, he could not run, only walk slowly forward.

Mammoth used this moment to run out the open employee's back door and grab as many of the TVs and other electronic equipment that he could in his massive arms. He then began running down the alley at the back of the store.

See-More had backed away as Element pressed forward, and once he reached the end of the aisle, he spun out oftheaway as Element's tiles continued to be flung at him. He too headed for the back door.

Outside, in the air, Kyd Wykkyd ducked another blast of dark energy that Raven sent his way, then teleported right in front of her and punched her in the face, knocking her back a little. Looking down, he saw his teammates retreating. He teleported down to the ground and wrapped himself around the remainder of the items left lying at the back of the store, then teleported the items and himself away to an unknown location.

"Drat." Raven said, rubbing her cheek where she had been punched.

Robin and Terra were still chasing after Jinx, who continued to run through the alleys behind these buildings. Turning around another corner, Jinx saw that this way led to a dead end. She turned around and ran back the way she came, prepared to go around the next corner instead. As she re-entered the alley she had just left, she was suddenly struck from the side and pushed against a building wall.

Robin had slammed into Jinx as she came running back out of the alley she had just entered. He was surprised to be sure, but used the opportunity to grab Jinx's arms before she could recover, holdingher armsbetween them. He pushed her back against the brick wall of the alley and held her there. He heard footsteps and looked back down the alley, seeing that Terra was following after him.

Turning back to Jinx, Robin scowled at her. "Why were you trying to steal the stuff from that store? What good could it possibly do you and the others?" he demanded.

Jinx's pinkeyes darted all over, looking for some way out of this. She could not tell Robin what he wanted to know, what she wanted to say. Her teammates were close by, and if one of them happened to run by as she exposed the truth, it would mean failure for her mission. But she couldn't let Robin and the other Titans apprehend her either, as that would also mean failure. She had to think of something, and before Terra finally got here to assist Robin.

Suddenly, her eyes sharpened as an idea came to her. She didn't want to resort to this, but she didn't see that she had any other choice. She had to get away and reveal the truth to the Titans in a more appropriate setting, where prying ears would not hear.

Reaching out and putting a gentle hand on Robin's neck, Jinx leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Robin's eyes snapped open, his jaw dropped and his body recoiled. Jinx held her lips against the side of his face for a few more seconds, Robin too stunned to push her away. As she did this, Jinx reached with her other hand and grabbed Robin's belt, and pushed her hand between his belt and his body!

Now Robin did push her away, shocked beyond comprehension at this behavior of Jinx's. Terra, having gotten closer to the two now, stopped her running and froze in place as she saw all of this, raising up her goggles and staring wide-eyed and jaw-dropped at the scene.

Looking at Robin's astounded, almost horrified face, Jinx whispered, "Sorry.", and then pushed passed the stunned Robin, running like mad down the alley, making her escape.

Robin stood there and watched her go, too freaked outto move. Hearing Terra's running footsteps again, he turned to her as she came to a stop in front of him.

"What the heck was that all about?" she asked, almost as confused as he was.

Robin placed a hand to his cheek, his mind drawing a blank. "I have no idea." he admitted.

Looking at his belt, Terra pointed and said, "What's that?"

Looking down, Robin saw something white stuck between his belt and his body. It looked like a piece of paper. As he reached to pull it out, his communicator started beeping and flashing, signaling that an alarm had been raised.

He pulled out his communicator and called up Cyborg's image. Terra leaned over him to see. Cyborg and the others were still back at Electronics Now.

"Robin, another alert signal has been raised. This one's coming from the beach. We'll have to let the Hive Five go for now. The people at the beach are under attack." Cyborg informed him.

Robin frowned. "Attacked by what?"

Cyborg pause for a moment before answering. "Giant crabs."

------

As people ran screaming from the beach back to their cars, the Titans arrived. Cyborg drove the T-car of course, with Robin in front while in the back sat Terra, Element and the Gamer, both now back to normal. Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy all flew to the location.

Stepping out of the car, and being joined by their flying friends, the Titans looked down from the beach parking lot to the spot where land met ocean. Down below were about a dozen creatures that looked exactly like seven foot king crabs. Because they were in fact seven foot king crabs. There was nothing about them that looked extraterrestrial or mutated, the just looked like normal earth crabs, save for their large size. More of them kept coming out of the water every few seconds.

Cyborg gulped. "Okay, I'm not usually one to turn down meat, but I really don't feel like eating crab cakes again for a while." he said with a massive sweat drop rolling down the human portion of his face.

"I don't know how they got so big, or why they are coming here, but we've got to get rid of them." Robin declared.

Gamer nodded. "Gotcha. I'm on it." he said, lifting his controller, Gamer punched in the code for the game form he desired and pushed START. When the light faded, he stood as aman six and a half feet tall, covered from head to foot in a futuristic green combat armor. His face was shielded by a helmet with a golden visor in the front for him to see through. He held a large automatic rifle. Looking at his friends, he spoke with the voice of man in his early thirties, coming through the helmet.

"Master Chief, from _Halo: Combat Evolved_." he clarified. "This should get the job done." He then lifted the rifle in his arms and sighted down on the giant crabs below and opened fire. Rounds poured out of the weapon and slammed into the crabs. A few screeched inhuman protest to the assault, but most of the rounds ricocheted off of their hard shells.

Robin held up a hand and shouted "Whoa!" over the gunfire. Gamer stopped shooting and looked at him.

"Gamer, we don't use guns. It's just not right." Robin said to him.

Raven nodded. "Yeah. It's not exactly an honorable thing to do." she said in her monotone.

Looking back and forth between them for a moment, Gamer nodded.

"Yeah, okay. I guess you're right." He was then consumed in the white light again and changed back to normal, where he immediately began pushing buttons on his controller again. Hitting START and being covered in light again, Gamer changed into the Pur-linn Juggernaut, his favorite battle form.

"_Is this better?_" he asked.

Robin nodded. "Much. Teen Titans, go!" Robin shouted and the Titans headed down to the beach to do battle.

Gamer was the first to leap into the fray, blasting at the crabs with the plasma blaster in the hilt of his massive sword, before charging in and slicing and impaling left and right, slinging crab meat and limbs everywhere.

Terra summoned up great clouds of sand and rained them down on many of the crabs, burying and crushing them under the wait of all the sand. She also summoned large boulders up from deep in the earth and hurled them at the crustaceans like missiles.

Beast Boy morphed into a green lion and leaped at one of the crabs. The thing screeched at him in its inhuman voice. Skaaaaarrr! Slashing with his lion's claws, Beast Boy scratched large bloody marks across the crab's broken, ugly face. It snapped its main pincer claw at him, taking a large chunk out of his side. Rrrrooooaaaaarrrrr! Beast Boy roared in pain and anger, whirling his feline head around to bite the crab's arm. It shook its clawed arm, but could not shake the lion away.

Robin began bashing away at the ugly things with his staff. Each time a crab tried to snap at him, he blocked with his staff and kicked the crab's ugly, black eyes which swiveled around on stalks. He also threw his birdarangs, slicing off their antennas which waved around.

Cyborg blasted a few crabs to smoldering seafood with his sonic cannon, and bashed others with his metal fists. The crabs tried to snap at him with their pincers, but his metallic body was harder than their shells, and they could not penetrate him. Lifting one such brute over his shoulders, Cyborg threw the creature into two others, like knocking down milk bottles at a carnival.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" Raven used her powers to lift one crab and throw it at another, impaling the two ugly beasts with their own claws. Hovering above the scene, she was not in any danger from the crabs.

Of all the Titans, Element and Starfire seemed to be the most effective against the giant crab invasion.

Starfire flew overhead, blasting at the crabs with her starbolts. Although many of the orbs of green energy hit the crabs in their shells, the explosive result penetrated the shells and blew the crabs into globs and piles of seafood gunk. Very nasty, but at least it was quick. These creatures were dangerous and had to be destroyed, but she did not wish to cause them any unnecessary suffering.

As she flew low over the carnage, a crab suddenly grabbed hold of her leg with its large claw, stopping her in mid-flight. Starfire reached down and pried the pincer claw from her leg. She then pulled the creature into the air and spun around with it, hurling it through the air and sending it several miles out to sea. The crab would live, but it would be far away from human settlements, and would cause no harm.

Element used a single spark from one of Starfire's attacks and absorbed the element of fire into his being, standing now as a being of fire. Element ran from crab to crab, actually running right into them. The crabs would ignite in an instant and begin shrieking and scuttling all over the place as they burned, while he would reform his fiery self and move on to the next target.

And the crabs kept coming. They crawled out of the ocean and up onto the beach, meeting the Titans in battle, getting in some licks but ultimately getting put down. The Titans felt bad for having to destroy these seemingly random freaks of nature, but it had to be done. It was agood thing they had managed to stop them here at the beach, as there were enough of these monstrosities to storm the whole city.

After about a half hour of fighting, the Teen Titans, all exhausted, managed to surround the last group of crabs, pushing them into a single group in the middle of a circleteenaged superheroes that surrounded them. Robin pulled out a disk from his belt and flung it at the group of crabs. An explosion of liquid nitrogen issued forth, causing all the Titans to step back.

When the vapor cloud evaporated, the remaining crabs were shown to be frozen in place as still statues. Gamer lifted his massive Pur-linn sword and swung it forward, shattering all the crabs into a thousand pieces.

All the Titans immediately fell on their backsides, resting on the beach and breathing heavily from the battle. Beast Boy and Gamer both changed back to normal. As all the Titans took a breather, Cyborg, who was at the part of the circle to where he was looking out at the ocean, suddenly raised his arm and pointed, his eyes growing wide.

"Uh, g-guys." he stuttered.

All the Titans turned and looked out at sea. A part of the ocean surface seemed to bulge and bubble, a sign that something big was coming up from below.

All the Titans stood up and turned to face this sight. Beast Boy walked up next to Terra and moaned, "Aw man, what now?"

Suddenly, what was below the ocean surface revealed itself. It was the mother of all crabs. At least one hundred feet in size, brownish red, the edges of its shell jagged with five foot spines. The Titans' jaws all dropped at the sight of this abomination.

Starfire gulped. "I believe we have really… 'stepped in it', this time." she said, shaking with fear as the monstrosity began to head for shore.

"You can say that again." Raven replied.

The enormous beast scuttled its way onto land, shaking the ground with the footsteps of its many legs.

Robin turned to the Gamer. "I don't suppose you've got something to handle this, do you?"

Gamer thought for a moment, then grinned, the sun reflecting off of his sunglasses. "Actually, I do. _War of the Monsters_. Hang on." he said.

Stepping forward, Gamer once again began putting in the right code. This would be his fourth change in less than an hour, the most transformations he had ever done at one point. A record.

He finally pushed START, and was enclosed in the white light. The light brightened and got bigger and bigger, until it was aglowing light one hundred feet tall! The Titans below were all forced to run further away, not wanting to get squashed by whatever Gamer was becoming.

The light faded, and standing there was a giant monster. It appeared to be made from still-cooling lava, as its skin was blackened earth with cracks of glowing red heat running along its body. It had a large jaw filled with very sharp teeth, and multiple eyes, with a hole on the very top of its head like the rim of a volcano, steam and glowing heat rising out of it. The most amazing characteristic was that the creature had four arms on its sides, one set below the other.

Element nodded at his brothers' choice. "Magmo. Nice one, fire works best."

Roaring, Gamer attacked the giant crab, swinging all four of Magmo's arms left and right, delivering punch after punch. The crab squealed in reply and began snapping and slapping him with its claws, and scratching him with his legs.

Beast Boy looked at the others. "Shouldn't we, you know, do something?" he asked.

Robin looked at him. "You want to get close to that thing? We'll all get crushed. It'd be best to let Gamer handle this one. He's the only one of us that become big enough to hurt that thing."

Element frowned. "Who says we need to be big?" he questioned. Element ran forward, towards his brother. Gamer was trying to hold back the crabs arms, so he was not moving for the moment. Touching his brother's enormous leg, Element re-absorbed the fire element into himself and traveled up his body in seconds. He then flung himself at the crab's face.

As the crab's face lit afire, the crab backed away from Gamer and started scuttling sideways, leaving the beach and heading for the docks, screeching the whole way. While it was distracted, Starfire took to the air and began blasting it with her energies, although the crab appeared not to take notice.

The crab scrapped its claw against its face and flung Element through the air. Element changed from fire back to normal in the air, before he slammed into the side of a condemned building across the street from the beach parking lot.

"Element!" Raven shouted, as she watched him hit. Enraged, Gamer bounded after the crab, shaking the ground, and began punching it with all four arms wildly.

Then there was a terrible ripping and clashing sound. The Titans on the ground and Gamer turned to the building Element had hit. The entire decrepit building shook and cracks began running up its side. The whole frame broke away, and pieces of brick, concrete, sheetrock, plaster, old furniture and iron girders all began to move, to clack together randomly. The entire pile of debris took on a humanoid shape, although vaguely so.

"Unbelievable." Cyborg whispered. Raven would have agreed, had she heard him. Element had formed to the entire building and was wrenching it away, using all of its pieces as his new body. He was a giant walking junk pile.

Standing as tall as Gamer and the giant crab, Element walked his massive debris-filled form towards the battle. Gamer grabbed the crab's claws in two of his own and moved around behind it, pulling the crab's arms behind its back. The crab shrieked in pain and protest.

Element stood in front of the crab and began extending all the steel girders in his body through one side, making them all link together into one long piece of metal. Pulling this steel baton back, Element smacked the giant crab across its ugly face again and again, determined to put this thing down before it could move into the city and begin leveling the place.

After the crab stopped resisting so much, very dazed and severely injured by Element's attack, Gamer hoisted the grab in the two arms on his right side and lifted it up off the ground. He threw it into the air, and then took a deep breath, about to deliver the final attack.

Opening his mouth all the way down to his stomach area, he used Magmo's volcanic attack to finish the crab off. Ten fireballs shot out of his mouth and sliced through the air, hitting the crab's falling body. Each fireball exploded against the crab, driving higher into the sky and farther away. After the tenth fireball hit, the crab started to fall. It was more thana mile in the sky now and had been pushed all the way over the city. The Titans all watched as the crab fell from the sky and crashed into the forest somewhere, kicking up an enormous mushroom cloud of dust and sending a tremor throughout the city. There was no way that the monster survived.

Walking all the way onto the beach, where he would not crush any property, Element released the debris of the condemned building from himself. The pieces of building fell in a pile, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand, which settled to reveal Element standing at the top of it with his arms crossed.

Magmo was consumed in the white light, which shrunk down to human size and disappeared to reveal Gamer normal once again.

Raven hovered over to Element and stopped in front of him on top of he debris pile.

"I'm glad you're okay. I thought that…" she said hesitantly, making it clear what she had been worried about. Element stared at her a moment, and the corners of his mouth actually tugged upward in a smile.

Starfire floated down to the ground and landed in front of Gamer, throwing her arms around him in a large hug.

"Gamer, you have saved the day yet again!"

Gamer blushed and chuckled. "Only because that crab was so huge. If it had been smaller, we would have all done it together." he said, trying not to make it seem like he and Element were trying to take all the tough assignments. He and Element really had only been able to take the monster themselves because they just happened to be capable of becoming that size too. If there had been time to go back to the tower and fetch the T-ship, the others would have joined in the fight and blasted at the crab.

The other Titans were now joining them. Beast Boy and Terra ran up to them hand in hand, Robin had a scowl on his face at the hug that Starfire was giving Gamer, and Cyborg simply threw a fist into the air and shouted, "Boo-yah!" triumphantly.

Stepping down from the debris pile, Element moaned, "Are we done fighting evil today? I'm worn out."

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well, unless you guys want to go chasing after the Hive Five team now, we could all go back to the tower to rest. Fighting those crabs was pretty tiring."

Terra nodded, then her eyes suddenly went wide. "Speaking of them, Robin, what was that paper Jinx gave you?" she asked.

Robin turned to her with wide eyes, surprised that she remembered. He himself had forgotten all about Jinx kissing him and slipping that paper into his belt, because of the battle with the giant crabs.

Reaching down to the paper that was still stuck in his belt, Robin unfolded it.

"It's a note." he said. The others all crowed over his shoulder to read it.

_Teen Titans,_

_We have to talk. It is urgent. There is something you do not know, and it is time you were made aware of it. Things are not what they seem. Meet me at the food court at the mall in two days, at 5:00 pm. This is not a trick and not a set up. It is very important that you come, and please come discreetly. I need to let you in on what is going on. Again, this is no joke, it is very serious. Please be there, and don't be late. I'll be waiting._

_-Jinx_

The Titans all read the note again, bewildered.

"What do you think it means?" Cyborg asked Robin.

Robin shook his head. "I don't know. But Jinx did go to some, uh, serious lengths to give me this note." he said, blushing a little. Seeing his blush and remembering that the note had been in his belt, Starfire put her hands on her hips and began wondering to what lengths Jinx had gone to accomplish this deed.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Raven asked.

Beast Boy scratched his head. "Well, I don't think Jinx would be dumb enough to give us this in order to lure us into an ambush and expect us to believe that it's not a trick. So she is either expecting us to go there ready to fight while she's really somewhere else, or she's telling the truth."

Element stepped up to Robin. "So what are we going to do?" he repeated Raven's question.

Robin frowned down at the note. "We'll meet her there. Slade sending Cinderblock and Plasmus to fight Element and the Gamer, Dr. Light and Control Freak robbing banks and jewelry stores for no logical reason that I can see, and now the Hive Five robbing TV sets at an electronics store. I think its about time we figure out just what's going on around here. Maybe Jinx does have something important to say about it. Either way, we need to figure out what she's up to. So we go." he stated.

------

The next morning, after the team had eaten breakfast in relative silence, everyone made their way to the living room and waited until 10:00, waiting to see if Robin was indeed going to let Gamer take Starfire on a date to the game convention at the mall.

Gamer remained at the kitchen table, ready to leave as soon as Starfire came back from her room, where she had gone after breakfast. Suddenly, the door to the hallway opened and Starfire came out. Turning to Gamer, she smiled.

"I am now ready to depart." she said happily. Smiling widely, Gamer stood up.

"Hey, great. Lets go then." he said eagerly, holding out his arm to her. Starfire giggled that wonderful giggle of hers in response to his gentlemanly gesture and hooked her arm through his. They began walking to the elevator.

Gamer took one last look over his shoulder to Robin on the couch, as did all the Titans sitting with Robin. Robin just stared straight forward, ignoring all the stares and crossing his arms even tighter than they already were, raging at himself and his stupidity on the inside.

Starfire and the Gamer entered the elevator and the doors closed.

------

A little while later, the two entered the mall and headed for the main lobby area, where the convention was being held. When they got there, they were awed by how many people had attended. Long tables had been set out all around the place, covered with game boxes and consoles and TVs to plug those consoles into to play on, and everything else you'd expect to see at a videogame convention.

Gamer walked Starfire along the tables, pointing out certain games and what they were about, and whether or not he had played them yet. Starfire smiled at all of this in excited interest.

Gamer sat down with other boys who boasted themselves as great players and challenged them all to one game after another. He beat them all of course, and the word spread through the mall that the Teen Titan known as the Gamer was not merely known by that name because he could become the characters in them.

Starfire cheered Gamer on at all of these matches, although she knew that she did not need to; Gamer was undefeatable. Gamer let her try a few games against challengers and coached her through them, directing her to victory each time, each time earning himself an appreciative hug in return.

The fact that the Gamer was there with Starfire was not lost on the other attendees of the convention. During the time they had been in Jump City with the Titans, many of the young ladies of the city had developed fangirl crushes on Element and the Gamer. Seeing Gamer here now with Starfire, on what appeared to be a date, many girls felt kind of low, their dreams of maybe attracting his attention shattered. But at the same time, this also helped spring new confidence ingirls who were fans of Robin. After all, if Starfire was dating Gamer, did that mean that the rumors about her having a secret relationship with Robin were false, and that he was now available? Depending on who they were a fan of, Gamer's date with Starfire seemed both good news and bad news to the ladies of the crowd.

Some of the guys who were fans of Starfire were still let down, because it didn't matter which Titan Starfire was dating, she was still taken. Many of them wanted to at least try talking to her while she was here, acting like a regular girl. But they all knew what the Gamer was capable of, and if he really was on a date with her, then they did not want to anger him. The last thing they wanted was for him to turn into someone like Solid Snake from _Metal Gear Solid_ and start shooting up the place.

After a few hours had passed, Gamer decided to look at some of the up-coming titles and then he and Starfire could go for lunch. He walked hand in hand with Starfire threw the tables that held the games that would be released soon. _God of War 2_, _Madden: NFL 2007_, _Destroy All Humans 2_, oh he was really looking forward to that one.

Suddenly, Gamer spotted something. A game that was situated on one of the tables for recently released titles. When he saw the game, he was amazed that neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy had ever mentioned seeing a commercial for it, as much as they watched the TV. He knew he had to get it, and he knew that he could use it. Not wanting Starfire to see it and ruin the surprise, he turned to her.

"Well, I guess that's everything there is to see. Why don't we go over to the food court for some lunch?"

Starfire nodded, smiling. "That sounds like a great idea, Gamer. I am famished."

As they started to leave the lobby and head for the food court, Gamer turned back and looked one last timeat that game he had seen. When they came back here tomorrow to rendezvous with Jinx, he would duck into the Game Stop for a moment and buy it, then show it to his friends when they returned to the tower.

------

Starfire and the Gamer were walking back to the tower after lunch, taking their time to enjoy the sights around them as they went. Neither spoke, as neither really knew what to say to the other. As they finally made their way to the beach that was across from the tower, Gamer decided that this was as good a time as any. It was sink or swim time.

"Starfire. Wait a moment." he said, turning to her. Starfire stopped and faced him, a questioning look in her eyes.

"What is it, Gamer?" she asked.

Gamer shifted nervously, then decided that the sooner he said it, the sooner he'd stop being nervous, as he'd know the answer soon enough.

"There's something I want to tell you. Something I've wanted to tell you for a long time now. Since before I even joined the team in fact." he then reached out and took her hands in his, deciding that a little show of affection through touch might be in is favor. Starfire immediately blushed, wondering why he would take such an action, but willing to listen to him.

"I... um… I really like you, Starfire. I mean I _really_ like you. I've liked you since I first saw you on the news." he said. Starfire's eyes widened, her mouth fell open and her cheeks turned from pink to full red as she realized what this meant, what this was all about.

Gamer continued. "You are beautiful. I don't know if anyone has ever told you that, but you are. You are the most gorgeous girl on this planet. That's your most obvious quality. You are also an incredible fighter. You are very caring too; caring more about other's feeling than your own. You are always happy. All the time I've known you I've never seen you be anything but happy around me; and being around you makes me happy. Starfire… if it's alright with you, well… I'd like you to be my girlfriend." Gamer exhaled after finishing this speech. There, it was out. It was all out. Now, only the response was left.

Starfire stared at the Gamer, completely at a loss for words. She had meant that much to Gamer? She'd had no idea. All this time she'd thought that she was simply a deep friend to him, that she was the one to whom he chose to confide his thought in. But to have these kinds of feelings for her? She was completely unprepared. And saddened. Saddened, because she could not return his feelings.

"Gamer, I…" she started.

Right there. It was over. He knew it was over. It wasn't going to happen. Gamer could tell by the hesitation in her voice that she did not think about him the same way he thought about her, the same way he felt about her. He let out a sigh, knowing now his defeat had been inevitable. Though Robin didn't know it, she had always had eyes and feelings only for him. Gamer decided to let her finish anyway, out of courtesy.

"I am sorry, Gamer. But I do not have such feelings for you. You are one of my deepest friends… and I hope that we can continue to be so, even though I do not care about you as deeply as you care about me." she said, looking down in sadness, afraid that she was about to lose a good friend because he would not want to be around her anymore, knowing that he could not have her.

She was surprised when Gamer placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Star. We will still be friends. To tell you the truth, I didn't really have much hope that you would like me that way. It was a long shot to begin with, but I felt that I had nothing to lose. Thanks for at least letting me get as close to you as I have. Me, _your_ second best friend? Not many guys get to say that. And thanks for going with me to the convention today. At least I got to have one date with you, not many guys get to say that either."

He then placed a finger under her chin to tilt her eyes to look at his. Or at least to look at his sunglasses, which he now realized where still covering his eyes. He lifted them up with his other handso she could see his eyes. Though he enjoyed being able to touch her face like this, he didn't let his thoughts get carried away. Not that they could much anyway, as he couldn't feel her skin through his black gloves.

"Don't worry. We'll find you a boyfriend yet. I'm pretty sure you'll have the perfect guy for you… real soon." he said, now knowing that Robin would be taking that position in her life, since he was clearly no longer an option.

Starfire smiled at him. "Do you really think so?" she asked hopefully, a certain name already in mind.

Gamer nodded. "I know so." he said, lowering his sunglasses back over his eyes.

Starfire threw herself at him and gave him a monstrous hug. Ignoring the pain, Gamer allowed himself to scent her lovely hair, imagining one last time that she was hugging him out of love. Like he had always wished she would.

Seperating, Gamer took her hand again. "Come on, lets get back." he said, and Starfire floated into the air, carrying Gamer by the hand across the bay to the tower.

------

Robin was in the training room, punching and kicking the punching bag like a wild man. He was very close to busting it open, and he wouldn't stop until he did.

He heard the door open behind him and turned around to see the Gamer standing there, looking at him. Robin relaxed the fighting stance he'd been in and turned to face him. He frowned at him, seeming angry.

Gamer walked up to him, standing an even distance from him. A few moments passed and neither said anything. Finally, Robin ventured, "Well? How'd it go?"

Gamer sighed and looked down. "I failed."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "You failed?"

Gamer nodded, then looked up at Robin. He held out a hand, obviously meaning for Robin to shake it. "Congratulations man. You win. She's all yours. I get to be her best friend now. You get to be… something even better." he said, a small ironic grin spreading across his lips.

Robin looked at Gamer's hand, stunned. Finally, he slowly put out his hand, took Gamer's grip in his own and shook.

After letting go, Gamer turned and headed for the room's exit. He had lost. For the first time in his life, he had actually lost at something. Something important. And you know, it didn't feel as bad as he thought it would. In fact, he actually felt a weight taken off his shoulders. Besides, he was bound to lose at _something_ at least once, and who better to lose to than someone as cool as Robin?

As Robin watched the Gamer exit, he thought about what he had said. How Robin would now get his chance to be more than Starfire's best friend. The competition was officially gone. And Robin now possessed the courage to tell Starfire how he felt. All he needed now was the right time.

Sudden excitement and joy building up in him, Robin leaped into the air as high as he could an pumped his fist towards the ceiling. "Yes!" he shouted.

* * *

Man, what a chapter! My hands are sore from writing this one. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Yeah, I know that I've kind of made both Element and the Gamer into Mary Sues or Marty Sues, as I prefer to call male OCs. They will seem so for this story, as this really is just my attempt at imagining what it would be like if I became a Teen Titan. But since I'm planning at least one sequel to this story when it's done, and probably one more after that, I will take the focus off of the brothers and onto all the Titans equally, to make up for having such a big focus on them in this story. The next few chapters will focus more on the brothers' interaction with the canon characters, so that should balance it out for now.

In case you were wondering about the giant crabs, there was no real point or logic to that. You know how sometimes on Teen Titans arandom monster will show up with no explaination of how it got like that or where it came from, like that beast in "Stranded"? Well, that's what the deal was with the crabs in this chapter. I just wanted the Titans to fight an army of vicious monsters with no explaination of where they came from or why.

Now that Starfire is no longer an option for the Gamer, it is time to look to the future. The story will go different from here, focusing on Robin and Starfire's relationship, as well as the adventures of Element and the Gamer while they are with the Titans.

In the next chapter, the Titans meet up with Jinx, who gives them important info on just what is taking place. While she doesn't have all the details, the Titans will get an idea that major trouble is headed their way. And after an intense and rather surprising battle with Red X, Raven and Element will be left alone in the tower, for several hours. Bonds will be formed, feelings will be expressed, and a secret will be revealed: how Element and the Gamer got their powers! You are not going to believe the answer! Fans of the growing Element/Raven romance will finally be satisfied in the next installment of Element and the Gamer, Chapter 8: Origins, confessions and soul-mates.

See you guys then!


	8. Origins, confessions and soulmates

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks to InnocentStarInTheAnimeSky (formerly called TitanGirlzRox), for her continued support.

To my knowledge, there is no town in Colorado named Piedmont, which will be mentioned in this chapter and will be visited briefly in a future chapter. If there is such a town in Colorado, any similarities between it and the Piedmont of this story is entirely coincidental.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Sorry Gamer fans, but if I gave the name of the game here, I'd ruin the surprise.

* * *

Chapter 8: Origins, confessions and soul-mates

Element woke from his slumber with the same thought in his mind that he'd had every time he awoke for as long as he could remember.

_Another day. Oh joy._

Although he held the same distain for the world that he'd always had, he had to admit that lately, there had actually been some things in his life to be grateful for. He'd slowly started to develop a sense of purpose to his life since joining the Teen Titans. Maybe he could find a purpose for today.

Rising up out of the small pond in the center of his nature room, Element let the water he'd formed to fall from his body and regained his normal flesh. He stepped out of the pond, his gray spandex uniform not showing so much as a drop of water soaked into it, and moved to the small set of stairs that led to the door of his room.

Sliding the door open, Element decided to do something that he had not done in the five weeks that he had been with the Titans; he would go to Raven's room and see if she was awake yet. If she was, he would walk with her to the kitchen for their usual shared cups of herbal tea.

Element walked down the hall in the direction of Raven's room, which was at the very end of the hall on this floor. This wing of the tower was where the girls' rooms were located, although his room had also been placed in it, since they had run out of places for rooms in the boys' wing. He walked passed Starfire's and Terra's rooms, before finally coming to Raven's door.

Reaching out a hand, he knocked three times. After waiting a few moments, Raven opened her door. Her hood was down, her purple hair exposed, framing her pale face. Element preferred it when her hood was down.

"Good morning, Element." she said in her monotone voice.

"Good morning, Raven." he responded. "I thought I'd see if you were awake yet." While her door was open, Element looked behind her and noted her room's décor. It was dark, like her, with shelves of books, strange objects that seemed to be for meditation and spell casting, two mask-like faces to represent different emotions, and other mysterious things. So that's what her room was like. He'd always wondered.

"I am awake. Let's go see if anyone made breakfast today. I hope it wasn't Beast Boy." she said, cringing at the thought of his tofu breakfasts. If he had, then both she and Element would be having nothing but tea this morning. She didn't think Element would mind. He seemed to have acquired a taste for it. And he certainly seemed to enjoy her company, more than any of the others did.

Stepping out of her room and closing her door, she and Element both began walking down the hallway in the direction of the common room, not walking close to each other, but not really far away from one another either.

------

The two anti-social Titans entered the living room area to the smell of cooked tofu. Indeed, Beast Boy had been the breakfast maker today. That made their breakfast plans definite. Looking around, they could see that Robin and Starfire were nowhere to be seen. Probably up on the roof flirting without knowing it, or in the training room, working out while flirting without knowing it.

Cyborg, Terra, Beast Boy and the Gamer were all on the living room couch. Gamer was telling a joke. Element recognized it and turned to Raven.

"Come on. You don't want to hear this one." he warned her.

Raven raised a purple eyebrow. "Bad?" she questioned.

"Disgusting." he said, and they went to the kitchen counter to prepare their tea.

"So he asks the bartender what the special is." Gamer was saying, telling his joke. Terra, Beast Boy and Cyborg were sitting on the edge of their seats, eyes glued to him, waiting to hear what the punch-line was.

"The bartender tells him that it's chili, but that the guy sitting further down the bar already has the last bowl. So the guy orders a drink and sits there for a while. Then he notices that the man that the bartender pointed to is just sitting there and not eating his chili. So the guy leans over and asks him, 'Hey man, if you're not going to eat that, would you mind if I have it?' The man says, 'Go ahead' and slides the bowl over to him."

Gamer grinned, about to come to the good part. He hoped that they didn't have weak constitutions, otherwise they were going to lose their breakfasts in a minute. The other three Titans leaned even closer, elbows on their knees, waiting for him to go on and find out where this joke was going.

Gamer continued. "The guy starts digging into the chili, 'cause he's really hungry. When the bowl is halfway empty, the guy sees a dead mouse floating in the chili."

The three listeners all recoiled, looks of disgust appearing on their faces.

"Ewww!" they all said at once. Gamer grinned. If they thought that was sick, just wait until they heard the last part.

"He gets so sick, he vomits all the chili he ate back up into the bowl." Gamer said.

The three listeners recoiled again. "Sick!" Cyborg said. Terra put a hand to her mouth, trying to keep back her own gorge. Then, Gamer gave them the final bit.

"The man who first had the chili bowl leans over to him and says, 'That's how far I got too'."

"Awww!" the three Titans yelled. They all stood up, holding their mouths and stomachs.

"Dude, that is disgusting!" Beast Boy whined.

Gamer chuckled. "I know. But that's what makes it so funny."

Terra, although clearly grossed-out, could not hold back a slight grin.

"Well, next time you have a joke that's funny because it's sick, reconsider telling it to us." she said, half-serious.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, man. I don't think my systems can take another one like that."

Although they could not hear what they were talking about, Raven and Element heard the sounds of disgust from their friends, so Element knew that Gamer had finished the joke. He shook his head at his brother's sense of humor.

The door to the common room opened again, and Robin and Starfire entered the room. Element knew that the two would become an item soon. Gamer had told him how his date with Starfire had gone yesterday, and Gamer seemed to be taking his failure quite well. But Element felt sorry for his brother now. The girl he was interested in was no longer an option, while his own… situation with Raven seemed to be going well.

"Morning Titans." Robin called to all of them.

"A pleasant morning to you, friends!" Starfire said, cheerful as always. The Titans all responded with their own hellos, smiling at each other knowingly about how Robin and Starfire had been together all morning. Things seemed to be going good for them, and it would only be a matter of time.

Beast Boy spoke up. "So, what are we doing today?" he asked, mainly to Robin, though he expected suggestions from everyone.

Robin looked at him. "Well, this evening we are going to go to the mall and meet up with Jinx to see what it is she has to tell us." he informed them.

Cyborg's eye widened. "That's right. I forgot about that; she's got some information for us."

"Unless it's a trap." Gamer reminded him.

Beast Boy frowned. "But what else are we going to do?" he asked. All the Titans began thinking about something interesting that they could do today. Suddenly, Terra's eyebrows shot up.

"Hey, didn't that new _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie come out the other day? We were busy fighting the Hive Five and those giant crabs, so I didn't really think about it, but I wanted to go see that sometime." she said.

Robin thought about it. "That sounds okay, I guess. When do you guys want to go?" he asked them.

Terra said, "How about tonight, after we meet up with Jinx?" she asked, looking at Beast Boy and linking her arm through his as she grinned. "I've always loved watching adventure movies at night." Beast Boy grinned back at her. Cyborg and Gamer rolled their eyes, but chuckled nonetheless.

Finally tearing his eyes away from Terra's, Beast Boy frowned again.

"But what are we going to do until then? It's only 9:30." he pointed out.

------

The rest of the day passed as a boring one for the Titans. Starfire had suggested playing a board game, and this in turn led to the suggestion of that old classic, Monopoly. However, this did not really help the Titans' boredom for one particular reason: Gamer had been allowed to play.

Although it was not a videogame, it was still a game, and therefore, Gamer was surely going to win. What nobody had prepared for was how easily Gamer would win. All eight Titans had been playing (with some convincing on the parts of Raven and Element), and with that many players, Monopoly can be a very long game indeed.

Gamer won the game in twenty-two minutes.

Can you grasp that? Really get your mind around it? Twenty-two minutes of Monopoly, with eight players, and the game was won. Gamer had bought all the property on the board, owned all the houses and hotels, held every card.

When going back over the whole thing from his memory records and close examination of the rules on the box, Cyborg determined that Gamer had not cheated or done any funny business while playing. Every move he made had been completely allowed according the rules of the game, and yet somehow, in someway that none of them could fathom, Gamer had bought all properties from them and won the game in only twenty-two minutes. It should have been completely impossible. The way Monopoly is set up and played makes a long, drawn-out game inevitable, especially with a high number of players. And yet, Gamer had done it.

And the most unbelievable part? Nobody had seen it coming until Raven sold him her last property, officially ending the game.

All the Titans had looked around at one another in disbelief, while Gamer only grinned sheepishly, not quite believing his own abilities at this point. And he'd thought that he was good at videogames. Ha, that was nothing.

After that, Robin had declared a new rule: the Gamer was no longer allowed to participate in group games, by virtue of the fact that there was no point in playing anyway, when everybody knew who was going to win. Gamer agreed without complaint, seeing the logic immediately.

So the rest of the day had passed without anything really remarkable happening. Robin spent time in the training room and hanging around with Starfire, still unable to find the right time or way to ask her out, and not wanting to so soon after her date with the Gamer.

Raven and Element had spent the time talking or using their powers for meditation and a relaxation. Beast Boy and Terra were pretty much the same way, although they spent some time walking around the rocky island they were on, or glancing through magazines on the couch.

Cyborg and Gamer, without any love interests around to keep them occupied, spent time working on the T-car. Magnificent as he was with games, Gamer knew next to nothing about mechanic work, and Cyborg was delighted to find something that he could teach to Gamer for a change.

So, time passed slowly, until 4:30 rolled around and Robin declared that the time to get going to the mall and meet up with Jinx was now. And so, the Titans gathered in the T-car or in the _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_ Cheetah that Gamer transformed into and made their way into the city, to meet someone who had been and enemy in the past. The Titans weren't sure what to make of Jinx at this point. She had been fought against them before, then she'd helped them against the Brotherhood of Evil, then she'd seemed to rejoin her team against them again, and now they just couldn't tell what was up. They hoped to find out.

------

The Titans walked in through the south entrance to the mall. Robin turned around and faced his team.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Some of us will stay back in case this turns out to be a trap. Beast Boy, you watch from the first floor as a dog. If you smell any trouble, alert us. Gamer, you watch from the second floor and provide back-up if we need it. The rest of us will meet Jinx and if it seems okay, we'll signal you to join us. Any questions?" he asked. There were none.

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Element, Terra and Raven all began walking purposefully towards the food court across the mall, keeping an eye out for any signs of other Hive members waiting in ambush. Beast Boy turned into a humming bird and flew ahead of the group so that he could get into position before they arrived.

Gamer headed up the escalator and began walking towards his destination along the second floor. The Game Stop was along the way to the food court and Gamer could duck in and buy that special game that he'd spotted at the game convention yesterday. He'd be out in less than a minute and with the speed that the others were headed to the food court, he'd have plenty of time to get into position.

There it was now, coming up on his right side. Looking over the edge to see where the other Titans were at, Gamer noted their position and walking speed, and turned to go into the Game Stop.

A minute later, he exited the store, carrying his purchase in his hand. Boy, were the others going to be shocked when he showed them this. He tucked the game under his shirt on his back, holding it in place against his body with his belt. As long as none of the others looked at his back, they'd never know he had it.

------

As Robin and the others entered the open space of the food court, he scanned the area, looking for Jinx. He finally spotted her on the far side, in an out of the way table where she was least likely to be seen, and thus would not draw quite as much attention with her pink hair done up in its horn-shaped design.

Robin turned to the others. "Keep your eyes peeled." he told them, then turned back and began walking towards Jinx's table, the others right behind him.

As Jinx spotted them, her head jerked up a little and she seemed to be relieved that they were here. As the Titans came upon her table she tried to seem as non-threatening as possible, starting with giving them a smile.

"Thanks for coming. I know you suspected a trap, but I'm glad you decided to hear me out." she said to them. Robin, Starfire and Cyborg sat down at the three empty chairs that were already at the table, while Element, Raven and Terra grabbed some chairs from a nearby empty table and arranged them next to their friends.

Robin spoke to Jinx. "Well, your note made it seem urgent. And you certainly went to great lengths to make sure we got it." he said with a peculiar tone in his voice, rubbing the left side of his face. Jinx blushed a little with embarrassment at her delivery method.

"Sorry about that. But I couldn't think of any other way to make you stop chasing me. I couldn't let the other members of my team hear me talking to you. By the way, none of them are here. We are alone and none of them even know that I'm talking with you, so you can tell the rest of your team to come out." she said.

Thinking it over, Robin decided that Jinx seemed to be telling the truth. He made a motion in the air with his hand, as if waving someone over to him. From the cover of one of the small fake trees in the corner of the food court, a green dog came running over to them, turning into Beast Boy as he got closer to the table.

"I didn't smell anyone threatening nearby." he informed them.

From the second floor overhead, Gamer lowered himself down to the bottom floor with the cord on his game controller, which was wrapped around the railing on the second floor, the cord extending to lower him to the ground. Recalling the cord into the controller, Gamer placed it back on his belt and approached the table. Beast Boy grabbed another empty chair and sat down, while Gamer chose to simply stand behind the others, for reasons unknown to them.

Although Jinx seemed to be no threat at the moment, all of them continued to frown at her in suspicion.

"Okay, you've got us all here. Now, what do you want to talk to us about?" Robin got to the point.

Jinx took a breath. "First of all, I want to tell you that I am not your enemy. I'm not really back with the Hive Five. I'm only pretending to, so that I can gather information on their activities." she said.

All the Titans' eyes widened in surprise at this. Jinx continued.

"BumbleBee hired me to spy on the Hive Five."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "You're working for BumbleBee?" he asked.

Jinx nodded. "After the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil, Doctor Light thawed out all the members, except for the original four, to give you guys problems. Probably the only truly brilliant thing he's ever done. That's how all your enemies came back. I had turned my back on my team during the battle, so I didn't know what to do next. So Wally and I went to BumbleBee to see if there was anything we could do for her and Titans East."

Raven blinked. "Wally?" she questioned.

Jinx blushed bright red and looked away sheepishly. "Um, Kid Flash." she corrected.

The Titans couldn't help but grin at this. "So, you and Kid Flash are on a first name basis, huh?" Beast Boy asked knowingly, moving his eyebrows up and down in a teasing manner.

Jinx giggled nervously. "Yeah. He and I have been hanging out a lot. But don't get the wrong idea, it's not serious. Yet." she informed them.

Robin chuckled a little, then cleared his throat. "You were saying about BumbleBee hiring you?" he got back on track.

Jinx nodded. "Bee asked me to act like I'd left Kid Flash and wanted to rejoin my team, so I did and they accepted me back. Since BumbleBee infiltrated the Hive before, she's been really interested in anything all the former students have been up to, and I've been giving her reports on their activities for the last few months."

Gamer held up a hand. "Hold on. If you were really just an undercover agent, then why did you attack me and Element when we first showed up?" It was a good question, and the other Titans looked to Jinx for an explanation. Jinx blushed again.

"Well, I had to be convincing for the other guys. Besides, I didn't know who you were when you showed up on the street that day. I thought you guys were just normal citizens trying to be brave. And to be honest," she said, looking right at Element, who she had attacked. "I was expecting one of these guys here to save you right before that electrical wire hit you. I didn't expect you to have powers too." she explained.

Element nodded, as it made sense. "Sorry for zapping you then." he told her.

Jinx waved a hand. "Forget it. It didn't hurt that bad and it sure helped throw off suspicion from the other guys."

Jinx got serious again and looked around at all the Titans in the eyes. Or rather, all of them except Robin, Element and the Gamer, who had their eyes hidden.

"But a few weeks ago, shortly after you two showed up, I found out something big. Something _huge_, really." she said.

Starfire looked worried. "What did you find out?" she questioned.

Jinx looked at her, then at Robin. "I learned that Gizmo made some kind of deal with Slade." she said. Robin's eyes narrowed, as did some of the others'. Beast Boy leaned over and took Terra's hand, as she looked angry and worried.

"What kind of deal?" Terra asked.

Jinx continued. "Slade hired him on to some kind of special project. He promised to give him access to all kinds of advanced technologies in return; technologies that only Slade can get hold of without using legitimate means. That's why a lot of the city's big criminals are robbing banks and such; they're hoping Gizmo will give them some of that technology when Slade hands it over to him."

Robin leaned forward. "What does Slade want him to do?" he asked seriously, sensing real trouble in all of this.

Jinx shook her head. "I don't know. He wants Gizmo to build something for him. That's why we were robbing that electronics store. Gizmo said that he needed electronic components for whatever it is he's building. It was hard for me to find out as much as I have. Slade told Gizmo not to talk about it with anyone and Gizmo is scared of Slade enough to do as he's told. I really had to press Gizmo for information on it, and even had to give a little… persuasion." she said, turning away from them.

The Titans' eyes widened again and they stared at her in disbelief. Knowing what they were thinking, Jinx cleared it up.

"Not_ that_ much persuasion. But I did have to act nicer to him than usual. I even had to kiss his little bald head to get him to tell me what he did." she said with a shudder. The Titans were all able to hold in their laughter, but only just.

"Anyway, Gizmo told me some stuff about it, but he hasn't spoken about it again since, no matter how much I act as if I like him. But See-More overheard our talk and he started spreading the rumor around, so most of the other criminals know now, too. I think Slade may have found out that Gizmo said something and straightened him out. He went into it voluntarily at first, but now, I think he's doing it out of fear of what Slade will do to him if he refuses… or fails." she said.

Robin thought about all she told them. "Can you tell us anything else about this… project?" he asked.

Jinx nodded a little. "Only that it concerns your two new boys here." she said, pointing at Element and the Gamer. The brothers' eyes both widened while the others stared at their newest members in shock.

"Why them? What's Slade after them for?" Beast Boy asked Jinx.

Jinx shrugged. "I don't know. But the last thing I found out about the whole thing is this: while he needs both of you for something, he's really after only one of you." she said ominously.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "One of them?" he asked.

Jinx nodded. "Right. He wants to get both of you, but he only plans on using one of you." she said.

Gamer thought for a few moments. "And you don't know which of us he really wants or what he wants to use us for?" he asked.

Jinx shook her head. "Only that what he's got planned for you is something big. And I mean really big. As in everyone-on-earth-is-in-trouble-if-he-succeeds big. That's all I know." she finished.

The Titans thought over everything Jinx had told them for a few minutes. Finally, Robin stood up.

"Well, thanks for letting us know Jinx, and for helping us out. And, sorry about fighting you while you were really on our side." he said.

Jinx nodded. "It's alright. Good luck on finding out what Slade and Gizmo are up to. I'll keep trying to get more info, but I can't keep pushing it for too long, or Gizmo will suspect something."

Robin nodded. "Do what you can, and thanks for all the info that you were able to get. If you need us to find out anything, you know where to-" Robin was suddenly cut off by the familiar tune of the Teen Titans alert sound coming from their communicators. Robin took out his and looked at it.

"There's been a robbery at the Gold Mountain bank." he informed his team. Looking closely at the display, he slowly turned his eyes up to look at his friends.

"It's Red X." he said gravely.

Jinx stood up. "I guess you guys had better go. I'll contact you later if I learn anything."

Robin nodded. "Sure. Thanks again Jinx. Titans, let's go!" he commanded, turning around and running from the food court and back towards the mall entrance that they had come from, the other Titans right behind him.

Turning his head around as he ran, Cyborg called back to Jinx. "And tell BumbleBee that Cyborg says 'hi'!"

Jinx yelled back, "I will!"

The Titans reached the doors and exited the mall. Cyborg, Robin, Raven and Element hopped into the T-car, while Gamer transformed into the Cheetah again and Starfire, Beast Boy and Terra all hopped in. The two vehicles sped off in the direction of the robbery, hoping to get there in time to figure out where Red X had gone and whether or not they could head him off.

------

Red X was running across rooftops and ducking through alleys, trying to put as much distance between himself and the bank he had just robbed as possible. He was carrying two bags of money over his shoulder, and they were slowing him down, considerably. But it was necessary. If he wanted to convince Gizmo to give him some of his new tech, he needed to be able to pay handsomely. If it was going to be as first rate as he had heard, he might be able to use some of it to update his suit and gadgets.

As he skillfully scaled the wall of another building and landed on the rooftop, a whistling sound cut through the air. Suddenly, his feet were bound together as if caught in a snare. He tripped and tumbled to the ground, dropping his money bags.

Looking down at his feet, he saw that they had been tied together by a length of twine that had two weights attached at both ends. He then saw his money bags become enveloped in a black substance and begin to levitate. He followed their path with his eyes until he saw them set down on the far end of the roof, right next to a familiar group of people no older than he was.

"Why would you even bother with money, X? Criminals don't pay, they steal." Robin said to his alter ego, facing him down with the other Titans at his sides. "Or did it not occur to you that you could just steal some of Gizmo's new toys when he gets them?"

X produced a small X-shaped piece of sharp metal (red in color of course) from his belt and sliced through the twine that held his legs, standing up thereafter.

"Hey kids. Been a long time." he said in his eternally amused, mocking voice, distorted by the mechanical quality of the skull-face mask he wore.

"It has not been long enough." Starfire retorted. She charged up her starbolts, her eyes glowing green.

------

Unnoticed to the other Titans, the Gamer had not joined them on the roof. He was down below, working his way around the building to the other side, hoping to catch Red X off guard by sneaking up behind him.

Realizing that now would be a good time to reveal his newest capability, Gamer took out the videogame that he still had tucked under the back of his shirt. He looked at it for a moment, then placed it back and took out his game controller. Pushing the buttons in inconceivable patterns and rotating the thumb stick, Gamer pushed the START button and was consumed in a blinding white light.

------

The Titans readied themselves for the fight ahead. Red X also prepared himself, noticing that there were others among them; a blonde-haired girl with goggles over her blue eyes and a boy in a gray spandex suit wearing a black mask that stretched across his eyes. He didn't know what they could do, but he did know that this was going to be tougher than usual.

"Well, come on kids. I haven't got all day. Let's play." he mocked.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled. The Titans attacked.

Cyborg was first. He charged up his sonic cannon and barreled straight at Red X, hoping that he could get close enough before X did anything so that he could zap him from close range and stun him.

Red X raised a hand and shot a red substance from his palm, X-shaped, that covered Cyborg's cannon and blocked his shot. X then jumped into the air and came down on Cyborg's shoulders. Placing his hands on Cyborg's back, he coated Cyborg in more of the substance, which formed ropes that wrapped around Cyborg's torso in an X pattern, pinning his arms at his side. Jumping aside, X pushed lightly on Cyborg, who fell over with a "whoa".

However, this was the plan. Cyborg had only been using himself as a distraction for the real attack.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" Raven chanted. A bolt of dark energy leapt from her outstretched hands and struck Red X, then curved upward, sending him into the air.

Terra, eyes and hands glowing yellow, summoned a large rock from deep underground below the alley next to the building. The boulder ripped up through the concrete floor of the alley and into the sky, where Terra brought it crashing down on Red X as he was still being propelled upward by Raven's beam.

X was struck quite hard and hurled down to the roof again. Landing on his stomach, he uttered an "oof!", and felt the wind temporarily knocked from him. Looking ahead of him, he saw Raven and Terra standing side by side, focusing their powers. Above him, the rock Terra used lowered itself until it was between them and Red X. Terra pushed it forward, Raven using her own powers to speed it along for good measure.

Hurriedly getting up on one knee, X extended the X-shaped cutting blades from the backs of his hands, activating them and making them whirl like the blades of power saws. He thrust them forward and swung his arms outward, cutting the boulder in two from the center to its sides. The boulder split in two pieces that X slapped away from himself in two different directions. This all happened in the space of a second.

Jumping into the air and doing a 360 degree turn, he landed back on the roof of the building and fired two X-shaped restraints from his hands, followed by two more, then two more.

The first set of gooey red restraints wrapped around Raven and Terra's arms, pinning them at their sides like Cyborg. The second volley of the red substances slapped themselves over both of their mouths, effectively gagging them with X-shaped red tape. The third set wrapped around their legs, causing Raven and Terra to fall down, mumbling protests that were muffled by their bonds.

Turning to his side, X saw the boy in the gray uniform running towards him. Not knowing what this guy could do, X simply attempted to wrap him up as well, and fired some more of the red stuff at him. As soon as the substance touched the boy, he became covered in the red adhesive. No, not covered. It seemed as though he had actually _become_ X's primary weapon. Well, this was certainly a surprise.

Element extended one of his glue-like arms, making it flow across the open space between himself and Red X. His adversary leaped out of the way and rolled across the roof. Once he straightened himself, X stood up and crossed his arms in front of himself, making an X-shape. He then swept his arms to the side, leaving a red trail of light lingering from his arms' swift movement.

Not sure what the effect of that was, Element took another flowing step forward with his red, elastic-like foot… when the roof underneath him simply gave way.

"Hey!" Element protested as he fell through the large hole that had been made in the roof. A hole that was (drum roll please)… X-shaped! Big surprise.

Turning to the next threat, Red X was suddenly hit with surprising force, as Beast Boy kicked him with his kangaroo legs while balancing on his tail. X was knocked through the air, but with a simple flip, he landed on his hands and propelled his body back further before landing on his feet.

Shooting more of the red gunk at Beast Boy, the green Titan was covered in the adhesive and stuck to the spot where he was. Changing to a lion, then an elephant, then an eel, he learned that he still couldn't find the animal form that could get him of this red crud.

"Dude, that is seriously starting to get old. And untie Terra, now! Nobody ties up my girlfriend but me!" he yelled.

Red X smirked behind his mask. "I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff." he said, although he knew perfectly well that Beast Boy had only been joking.

Suddenly, an intense burning sensation covered X's shoulder and he was pushed forward with surprising force. Landing on his face and skidding along the rooftop, X stopped himself and stood up, his mask scratched from the attack.

Turning around and looking up, he saw Starfire hovering above him.

"Leave my friends alone!" she yelled, raising both hands side by side, preparing to fire another starbolt at him.

X pulled a rope from his belt with a grappling hook on the end, shaped like a red X (Man, is this guy just obsessed with that color and letter or what?). He through it into the air, where it wrapped around Starfire's wrists. He pulled her down to his level.

"Eep!" Starfire squealed as she found herself standing in front of Red X. He reached out a hand and wrapped his bonds around her torso, tying her arms, then again with her legs. Starfire fell to her knees in front of him, and X placed a hand under her chin.

"Sorry, gorgeous, but it's been awhile since I last took your friends down, and I've really missed it. But you don't have to go out like that; you can go out with me instead." he said in a perverted tone, smiling behind his scratched mask.

Starfire's eyes burned with anger and she prepared to fire her eyebolts at him, as she had done once before. Red X quickly slapped a hand over her eyes and covered them with a red bond.

"Uh uh, baby. I'm not going to be caught by that little trick again." he told her. He then placed a single finger on her lower lip.

"And now that you can't see me, maybe I can lift this mask up for a moment and give you a… proper farewell." he said with a grin.

Before he could do that, he was smacked in the face by Robin's staff. Robin had hung back and watched the whole battle take place, trying to see if Red X had learned anything new. Knowing now that he hadn't, Robin decide that now was the time to take his old rival down.

X's head rocked back even as Robin swept the other end of his staff up to hit him in the stomach. X extended the blades on his hands again, this time without spinning them, and began blocking Robin's attacks.

Leaping to the side, X shot his projectile at Robin's legs, wrapping the Boy Wonder from the knees down, much like how Robin had stopped X in the first place. Robin fell and hit his chin on the hard roof.

Before Robin could recover, Red X ran over to where Raven had set the bags of money down. Picking them up, he ran passed all of the downed Titans to the other side of the roof, in the direction he had been heading before they'd stopped him. He turned around to face them, finding their glares aimed at him.

"Thanks for the warm up, boys and girls, but Teacher has to get going. Class is over for today." he chuckled. Then, with a shredding sound, Red X felt the weight of the money bags disappear. He looked at his hand and found that he was only holding torn fabric. The money bags had been cut from his hands and fallen on the roof. Surprised, Red X turned around towards the edge of the roof where his back had been facing, just in time to see the birdarang return to the green-gloved hand of… Robin!

"What the?" Red X yelped in surprise and took a few steps back. Robin, the other one, looked up from where he lay on the roof and his eyes widened to humorous proportions.

"What?" he said with equal surprise. All across the roof, the eyes of all the Titans widened as they looked upon this impossibility.

"Robin?" they all questioned, except for Raven and Terra, who could only mumble "Mmmhhmm?" and Starfire, who still could not see. Using all of her righteous fury, she finally summoned enough power to fire her eyebolts, vaporizing the sticky adhesive that had been pasted in front of her eyes. As she looked across the roof, she saw something that could not be possible. Robin lay on his stomach, pulling out a birdarang and using its sharp edge to try cutting through the red bonds that were around his legs. And facing Red X was also Robin, standing triumphantly at the genuine surprise that was evident on the thief, despite the mask.

"What? Who… who are you?" Red X asked, stepping back and extending his blades once again. The second Robin smirked at him.

"Can't you tell? I'm Robin." the smirk dropped off of his face, only to be replace with his trademark look of serious focus. "And this ends here!" he said, taking out his staff and extending it. Immediately, the second Robin leapt at Red X and began swinging his staff in a variety of different techniques. Each of his attacks were blocked by Red X, but all of X's attacks were also blocked.

Red X lifted a hand and fired the red substance into Robin's face, just as the first Robin managed to cut the bonds from his legs. Standing up, he picked his staff up and ran to the battle.

As the other Robin grabbed the red adhesive and peeled it off of his face, the first Robin arrived next to him, looking at him in disbelief. The other Robin grinned at him.

"What say we finish this now? He can't take two of us." he suggested. Despite how absurd the situation was, Robin reluctantly agreed. Both Robins stood side by side and held their staffs out, aimed in X's direction.

Behind them, a human outline appeared on the surface of the roof. A moment later, Element emerged from within the roof, having fused into the building and traveled through its elements to get back to the top. As he emerged as a human again, he actually felt surprise, a rather foreign emotion for him, since he never really cared. But seeing two Robin's facing down Red X was just too much even for him to stay passive.

Ignoring the two doppelgangers, Element turned around and ran over to where Raven and Terra still lay tied by X's bonds, and began to free them.

Red X had to duck and dodge like crazy in his attempt to fight against two Robins. He knew that he was not going to win this fight. Fighting one Robin was difficult enough, and the only reason he'd had such success against him in the past was because Robin was so serious. But with two, that little emotional handicap just didn't cut it.

Red X didn't know what was going on here, or how there could be two Robin's, but he had to leave before they beat him and handed him over to the authorities. He'd just have to get some more money somewhere else. Flipping over the dual staffs coming in at him from two directions, X ran to the edge of the building and jumped off.

"Another time, Robins." he said as he pushed a button on his belt and disappeared.

Element, Raven and Terra all managed to pull Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire free of their bonds, and the six of them now stood and ran to the two Boy Wonders at the edge of the roof.

The first Robin, the one who had been tied down by Red X, backed up and aimed his staff at the other Robin.

"Who are you?" He demanded. The other Titans gathered around and readied themselves, in case of trouble. The other Robin retracted his staff, placed it back into his belt, then held his gloved-hands up in a gesture of peace.

"Whoa, easy there Robin." This second Robin said. "If this was still a game, I'd beat you for sure, but here in the real world? I don't think I can take you, even if I can do everything you can do."

Robin's eyes widened again, as did the other Titans'. "What?" he asked, a suspicion entering his mind, but unable to believe it.

Suddenly, the other Robin was consumed in a bright light, blinding to the eye. After a moment, it faded. Twirling his game controller in his hand like a gunslinger twirling his pistol, the Gamer placed his controller back into his belt and then crossed his arms.

"Gamer!" All the Titans yelled in disbelief. Even Element hadn't seen this one coming.

"But, how?" Starfire asked.

Gamer reached behind his back, then pulled out a box, which the Titans recognized as a videogame case. He held it up in front of them.

"Teen Titans. The game." he said with a satisfied smirk.

Beast Boy's mouth fell open. "Duuuuude! There's a game about us?" He snatched the case from Gamer and looked at it. On the cover were the original five Titans; himself on the far left, Starfire above him and to the right, Robin in the middle and obviously the one in the forefront, Cyborg above Robin and to the right, and finally Raven on the far right. They were all highlighted with specific colors of their features or their outfits.

Cyborg snatched the case from Beast Boy. "How did they manage this? We didn't even give them any rights to use us in a game!" he declared.

Gamer shrugged. "They probably had you sign some contract disguised as an autograph. I'd say you guys got hosed. But they at least got some voice talent that sounds a lot like yours. Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Tara Strong, and a bunch of others." he said.

Terra looked at the case. "Am I in here?" she asked.

Gamer shook his head. "Not as an actual playable character, although you are in the multiplayer, Terra. So are a bunch of the honorary Titans and some of your enemies. Even Red X and Slade! The only ones not in there are Element and I, and that's just because we joined too late for them to include us in this."

Robin put a hand on his head. "Well, what do you know. Are you saying that you can become any of us now, as videogame characters?" he asked, unable to believe it.

Gamer nodded. "Yeah. And that will come in handy someday, I'll tell you."

Robin and Gamer looked each other in the eye, a certain understanding passing between them. Gamer had no intention of using Robin's game character to trick Starfire into thinking that he was the real thing. That would be cheating, and Gamer **_NEVER_** cheated.

"Well, this has definitely been cool." Cyborg said, looking at the time on his wrist display. The sun had gone down during their search for Red X, before they had finally caught up to him.

"But didn't we have plans to see a movie tonight? There's a showing in an hour and half. We'd better get going if we don't want to wait until tomorrow." he said.

Starfire squealed in delight. "Oh yes. After such a battle, perhaps some relaxing time at a movie would be welcome." she declared, floating over to Robin and the Gamer, linking her arms through theirs and beginning to walk to the edge of the roof with both of them at her sides. Robin and Gamer looked at each other behind her back and shrugged.

As they were walking away, they heard Terra behind them, asking Beast Boy, "And just what did you mean that only you can tie me up?"

------

The Titans were gathering in the living room at the tower. It was almost 8:30, and they were preparing to go to one of the last movie showings of the night.

"You sure you don't want to go, Raven?" Robin asked her.

Raven sat reading on the couch and moved her eyes away from her book to look at Robin.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm not into Pirate movies." she said, returning her eyes to her page.

Shrugging, Robin turned and headed to the kitchen area. Looking down at a teacup that seemed to have a sort of face to it, Robin addressed it.

"What about you, Element?" he asked.

The teacup answered him. "I only like a handful of movies. Thanks, but I'll stay home."

Shaking his head at the two members of his team who hardly ever wanted to join in on anything, Robin headed to the elevator doors where the others were waiting.

Gamer walked up to the counter and spoke quietly to the teacup.

"This is it, Element. You're going to be alone in the tower with Raven. Use this time, bro. Nobody will be around, so you can finally tell her that you like her." he said.

Element seemed to literally pop out of the teacup itself. He stood and crossed his arms, staring Gamer in the eyes.

"Don't tell me how to handle my business, Gamer. And don't patronize me." he said in a low and stern voice. Gamer put up his hands in a peace gesture.

"Just letting you know that you've got an opportunity here. Do what you want with it. I'll see you later tonight." he said to his twin, and then turned on his heels and went to the elevator, where he and the other six Titans that were leaving disappeared as the doors closed.

Once she was sure that the others had truly gone, Raven closed her book and set it down on the table in front of the couch. Without looking at him, staring out the windows at the night beyond instead, Raven called over to Element.

"He's right, you know. You do have an opportunity here." she said in monotone.

Element uncrossed his arms and turned to face her, actually blushing. She had heard them? Grrr, he was going to beat Gamer to a pulp for his big mouth!

Sweat rolled down Element's forehead, as he became nervous for the first time in years. What should he do? Raven practically invited him to spend the time alone with her, but did he want to accept the offer? And was he really going to let Gamer have the satisfaction of knowing that his brother, who cared about nothing in life except wallowing in self-pity at how pointless it all was, had finally managed to get close to someone? And a girl at that?

Snapping out of it, he saw that Raven was now looking over at him. While she wore no expression on her face, she seemed to be smiling at him with her eyes. He felt his knees go weak for a moment.

_Forget what Gamer thinks and forget your pride; get over there and sit next to her, you idiot!_ he scolded himself.

Taking his own advice, Element walked to the couch and moved around it until he was standing to Raven's right. Slowly, he sat down, not looking at her, but taking glances out of the corner of his eyes, and trying not to look so nervous.

Although she wanted to scoot closer to him, Raven decided not to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was. Instead, Raven leaned her head against the back of the couch, crossed her legs (which Element took more notice of than he would admit to himself) and turned her body to a position that was mostly facing him.

"Your brother doesn't seem to have had any success with Starfire yesterday." she commented.

Element nodded. "She's made it clear that he is her friend, but only her friend. She wants someone else." he said.

Raven nodded in return. "Yeah. I don't know why Robin can't just tell her how he feels and reap the benefits of it. What's holding him back?" she asked, wanting to hear Element's insight into certain emotions. It might give her a clue about what went on inside his head.

"Pride. He doesn't want anyone to tell him who he likes or who is good for him. He doesn't want people making a big deal about it when he finally does decide to do something about it. He wants to decide his own path, make his own choice for his heart, and he doesn't want anybody else to notice it or care about it, because it's his business and no one else's. He doesn't want to be patronized. That's what's holding him back. But I don't think he knows that. He just thinks he's nervous or something, probably." Element explained. Raven was silent for a few moments. Then…

"So, are you going to tell me about yourself, or should I go first?" she asked, wanting to get right to the point and talk about what they really had to talk about.

Element shook his head. "I already know about your past. We did our research, remember? So, I guess it's time for my story, for what it's worth." Taking a deep breath, Element began.

"Gamer and I were born in 1988, in Piedmont Colorado. I was born first, Gamer came two minutes later. That's why we always had my name first. My father is a cabinet installer, my mother a dental assistant. Pretty average lives, really. We're not wealthy at all, but we've never been poor. We got close to having some rough patches, but nothing extreme. Gamer and I were never underprivileged, but we weren't spoiled either. When we were young, we were both different from how we are now. I actually did things, like ride bikes and play soccer. Gamer had never even seen a game before, and was actually pretty good at singing country music. We all thought he would be a star, someday."

Raven put a hand to her mouth and coughed, although it was merely a disguised laugh. She tried to picture Element kicking a soccer ball down a field and Gamer singing along with Garth Brooks on a radio, but she just couldn't see it.

"Then, around the time we turned eleven, things began to change. Gamer discovered videogames and eventually became what he is now. As for me, I really began getting into nature. I'm no pagan, but I did begin to see something about nature that held a certain feeling of purpose. That's when I started looking at all the opportunities that I was always told were 'out there'. I tried to see 'what life had to offer'. I hate that phrase, by the way. The people who use it don't have a clue what they are talking about. The same with the people who tell others to 'get a life'. They don't even know what life really is, so why should they tell others to."

"Anyway, I really began questioning a lot of things, and by the time I was thirteen, I realized just what there was for me in life. Nothing. There is nothing here and there never was. Not for me, not for anybody. What is life but a brief time you spend before you stop existing anyway? People try to tell me what the point of it all is, and how contact with others is what life is about and I say it is all baloney. Nothing we do during our lives makes any difference at all once you are dead, so what does it matter what you do? What does it matter if you interact with others or not? Nature serves a purpose. Trees and rocks and water and fire, the elements all serve a purpose, while we humans just make up our own. And for what? It's not like you're gearing up for a big test once it's over; there's no point in learning from your mistakes when you can't get any moments back and try again, and it doesn't affect you one way or another once you are dead, so what is the point to any of it? There is none. We're here until we're dead and there is _nothing else_!"

As Element tried to get his breath back from this long rant, Raven stared at him in shock. Had she ever really thought that anything was pointless? Had she dared to see herself as a brooding, emotionless wretch who didn't see purpose in anything? She was a cheerful preacher of life and love compared to whatever conclusions this boy had drawn. Element had acquired this state of mind when he had just entered his teens? How awful.

Element seemed to have composed himself again, and was blushing.

"Sorry. It's been awhile since I've told anyone new about what I know, so I got a little carried away there. Anyway, that's how it was for the next three years. Our parents were worried about both of us, what with Gamer spending his life just playing videogames and me just giving up on life completely. They were the same, you see. My parents, they didn't know what they were talking about when they spoke of life, either. But, they still loved us and allowed us to follow our paths."

"Gamer and I stayed close through it all, though. We were twins, we'd always been together. Neither of us has ever gone more than three days without being near the other. So we were okay as long as we heaped our opinions on each other."

"Then, in 2003, we saw a news report about how the famous sidekick of the legendary Batman had formed a team of crime fighters with four other teenagers with special powers. A girl from outer space, a cyborg, a changeling and an empath. They had just stopped an alien invasion of a large city in California and had banded together to form a group that they called the Teen Titans. For the first time in years, Gamer and I both became interested in something besides our specialties of games and nature. We became fans, and we couldn't get enough of these guys. We studied every single bit of info that had been gathered on them and listened to every wild rumor. I don't know what Gamer saw, but I saw a sense of purpose in defending the world. Something so basic that it could not be mixed up with the whole concept of what life offered. As a protector, you don't take what life offers you; you take what it throws in your face and you throw it right back. And that was alluring to me. Then, the day came when we got our powers."

Raven shifted in her seat, moving just the slightest bit closer, being drawn in with every moment that he spoke. This was the part she was most curious about.

"How did you get your powers, Element?" she asked.

Element turned away from her, seeming embarrassed. "You won't believe me if I tell you. It's so absurd that I still can't quite understand it." he warned her.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Try me." she challenged. Still not looking at her, Element quietly gave her the answer.

"A Wishing Well."

Raven sat up straight. "What?"

Element looked back at her, almost looking like he was going to smile.

"Told you that you wouldn't believe it. Gamer and I went walking into the woods behind our town one evening. We were out there until after dark. Before we decided to head back, I spotted an old well that had been mostly covered over with bushes. Gamer wanted to check it out before we went back, so we did. When we realized that there was still some water somewhere at the bottom, Gamer suggested that we throw in some pennies and make wishes on it. I think he was only joking at first, but when I refuse by saying how stupid and pointless it was, he persisted until I finally agreed."

"Gamer wished that he could actually be the characters in the games he played. Not like he is now, mind you. He wanted to actually be them, to be in their worlds, to live their lives, to be the heroes who he controlled on the TV screen."

"I wished that I could become one with nature. That I could become the elements and have a purpose. I didn't mean it like how I am now. I meant the natural elements, like on my bands here." he said, pointing to his elbow and knee bands, each depicting a natural element.

"Anyway, Gamer and I went home, and when we woke up the next day, we had the powers that we have now. I don't know if that well had been possessed by some kind of magic, or if some Force had heard us through it or what, but _something_ took our wishes seriously and granted them. Gamer's controller became possessed of some supernatural power that obeyed his commands, and he was able to somehow know what codes to put into it to change himself into any game character he wanted."

"I was able to form my body to any element on the periodic table. All substances, all chemical products of the universe. I can be any of them, anytime I choose. And I have a feeling of purpose when I form to them."

He paused now, looking down at the floor and put his hands on his knees.

"That was four months ago that we made those wishes. When we started showing them off around our town, people started getting scared of us. Finally, our parents decided that we should leave for our own safety, as it was looking like a mob from an old horror movie would end up forming soon because of what we had become. That was when Gamer suggested that we come here. That we use our powers to fight crime and join the Teen Titans. To become the heroes that we both had always wanted to be."

Raven stared back at Element with a new respect, a level of respect that she had not felt towards anyone except Robin during the whole Trigon incident, and this was an even deeper respect than that.

Element slowly raised his eyes to look into hers. "We had other reasons for coming. It wasn't just about joining the team and being heroes. Both of us, me and Gamer, we both had people that we wanted to meet. More than anyone. We had both developed crushes through our research and watching the news. Gamer wanted to come here to meet Starfire above all other reasons. As for me… well…" he trailed off, knowing that she knew the answer.

Raven spoke the answer. "You wanted to meet me. Because you knew that you and I were alike. You developed feelings for me by learning about me, and you wanted to see the person you'd come to care for face to face." She said, her expression indefinable.

Element looked right back at her and slowly nodded. Raven's mouth slowly slid up into a small smile. She reached out and took Element's gloved hand in her own, an action she would have never done with anyone else, or even with him, if he had not told her all the things he just had.

"Element. I think you should know, I've grown to care about you too. I… I thought you were handsome, right from the beginning, but I've thought a lot of boys were handsome, so that didn't affect me much. But, I could tell that you had some interest in me, and that you and I were alike. I wanted to get to know _you_. And I'm glad that I have now." she spoke openly, revealing her true feelings for the first time in her life.

Element went rigid for a moment, then relaxed, a smile appearing on his own face; a genuine smile. Then, the smile faded.

"There was one other reason why I wanted to meet you, Raven." he said, sounding like he was about to hit her with something hard to hear.

Raven drew back guardedly. "What?" she asked.

Element thought for a moment, then went on. "I've sampled every element on the periodic table. I've been every chemical that can be formed from them at the most basic level, meaning that I can be any other substance in the world too. But, there is one substance that is not on the periodic table. One thing that I have not formed to because it cannot be found in nature; it can only be found inside people, and you are the only person I know of who can bring it forward."

Raven's mouth dropped open in shock. "My energy." she said, knowing what he was talking about.

Element nodded. "Yes. Your dark energy is the fabric of your soul. I have never formed to anything like it before, and I want to know what it is like. Needless to say, I never asked you, because I knew that it was too personal and you didn't know me well enough for me to even ask the question, never mind expect a positive response. But, I guess now is the right time to at least ask. Raven, can I sample your energy?" he asked.

Raven noted that he asked her that in the same tone that most men use when they propose to their girlfriends. It was a question just as serious as that. More serious, because he was talking about forming to the substance that made up part of her soul. If he absorbed it into his own being, what would the result be?

Nevertheless, Raven knew that any future that the two of them may have together would depend on the results of this experience. And she knew now that she did in fact want to be with him. Actually, it seemed like a requirement now. He knew almost everything important there was to know about her, and now she knew pretty much everything there was to know about him. That could not be ignored now.

Unable to believe that she was actually doing this, Raven raised a hand, palm up. She created a ball of her dark energy above her hand. Element looked at that sphere of black like a prison inmate who has just been handed the key to his cell and had the location of the lock pointed out to him and was now on his way to mate the key to the lock.

Reaching out with one finger, Element touched the negative energy with the tip and absorbed it into his being. He immediately became consumed by the energy, retaining his original shape, but being made completely out of Raven's dark energy.

The instant that this effect took hold, Raven and Element both snapped like whips that had been cracked through the air. Raven's head snapped back on her neck, and so did Element's. The two opened their eyes as wide as they could go and began breathing in quick, desperate breaths. Both of them began uttering strange moans and whines, "ah ah ah".

This went on for what seemed like weeks to the two teenagers, but was actually only about twenty seconds. Element finally regained enough focus to cancel out the effect, turning himself back to normal.

Immediately, Raven and Element began to steady their breathing, blinking their eyes and putting hands to their foreheads. Then they looked each other in the eyes.

They knew one another. Completely, utterly, totally and with absolute finality. There were no secrets, there were no questions. Element had formed to Raven's soul, and so he had taken in every memory, every sensation, every feeling, everything she was and every thing she had. And, since her soul had literally become Element at the same time as a result of the absorption, Raven knew Element in the same way.

There was no going back from this now. They belonged to each other, now and always. A tether had been placed between the two that could never break, a tether of soul and emotion. They had a connection that no two people at any other time or place in the history of the universe could ever hope to achieve, no matter how psychic they were or how long they knew each other or how in love they were. They were the two most completely unified people to ever live, and neither of them could deny it in the slightest.

Their pulses returning to normal, Element moved as close to Raven as he could get, and she did likewise. No words needed to be said; they had felt what the other had felt during this spiritual union. They both knew what the other wanted from them, and the emotions that had been unlocked after both had spent their whole lives trying to keep those emotions locked away. The emotions of desire, companionship and love, denied their whole lives, never to be denied again, as all those emotions had now been received and were about to be returned.

Leaning in, Raven and Element pressed their lips against one another's, both experiencing their first kiss with each other. It was not long, nor was it as intense as the union had been, not by a long shot. Still, it was much sweeter than either had dared hope to imagine that a kiss could be.

They separated after a few seconds, opening their eyes to a new world of possibilities.

"Wow." Raven said plainly, although inside she was bursting with joy and happiness. Nothing was blowing up, however. Element had taken that danger away forever.

"Yeah." Element agreed. "Wish I'd done that before I asked to absorb your energy. Seems kind of plain in comparison." he admitted.

Raven nodded. "Yes, it is rather plain compared to that. But still enjoyable." she said.

Element could not have agreed more. They leaned in again, and this time the kiss was long and full of emotions that the two had only now released from captivity, emotions that were raring to go after this long in the shadows. Their lips crushed against each others' and their tongues explored. They wrapped their arms around each other. After a moment, Raven coated Element in her dark energy and Element immediately absorbed it. The kiss intensified to a level that no other souls could ever know, and too bad for them. Element and Raven were in a complete bliss.

After nearly five minutes, the kiss ended and Element returned to normal as Raven withdrew her energy. Looking each other in the eyes for a moment, Raven leaned against him and rested her head on his chest. Element held her, and for the first time since he was a young boy, felt truly happy.

Raven had helped him find a sense of purpose. His purpose was to protect her. To love her and be beside her, forever. That was his purpose now. There could be no question about it, as the experience they had just shared could not be denied or held back. They belonged to each other now, in a way that made the concept of marriage seem like a cheap imitation of unifying two beings. Now Element knew his place in life.

Raven was feeling happiness like she had never known. Element's absorption of her power had allowed a spiritual connection that made the mental bond she shared with Robin seem like communicating with two empty tin cans and a length of string between them. As a result, her hidden emotions had awakened, but only with him. She was still Raven, but with Element, she was not the Raven that the rest of the world had known. She was the true Raven with him, the pure, unbroken Raven, who had all of her emotions pieced together like they belonged. The danger of destroying everything around her with her emotions was gone as a result. She would never have to be alone again, not that she could have if she wanted to, as she and Element were each others' now. But she liked it this way. Now that her destiny of bringing forth Trigon had passed, Raven had found her new purpose; to be with Element.

The two, formerly emotionless Titans, held each other and took comfort from the other's being for a long time that night, reluctantly ending their embrace only upon the return of their friends. Although they did not try to hide their new union, they did not divulge the information either. The others would figure it out soon, and neither of them would feel embarrassed about it. They were whole now, after all. They had no regrets.

* * *

Wow, now THAT is the longest single piece of writing I've ever done. Boy, I really put a lot into this one, didn't I? Well, that was the idea.

This chapter has finally answered some questions and gotten Raven and Element on the right track at last, and about time. Those two really needed someone, and boy did they luck out. Having Raven's energy be absorbed by Element and having them bond with one another in an indescribable way as a result was the entire reason why I created Element. I wanted something unique to take place between them, and I do believe that I have pulled it off.

I wanted to use the Teen Titans videogame and references to the voice talents as an inside joke, which I hope that fans of the show really appreciate.

And just admit it; what Beast Boy said about him being the only one who could tie up Terra was funny, wasn't it?

In the next chapter, with Element and Raven finally together, that leaves only one couple left in the tower who really belong together. But Robin just can't figure out a way to ask Starfire out on a date. So, the Gamer decides to help him out. With Gamer's advice and coaching, Robin finally asks Starfire out, and she accepts eagerly. As the two set out for their first official romantic night on the town, neither of them knows that Gamer is secretly following them, making sure that nothing goes wrong and that the two finally admit their feelings for one another. What the Gamer is not aware of, however, is that he is secretly being followed too.

Romance and mystery abound in the next installment of this story, Element and the Gamer Chapter 9: I've got a date with Starfire!- Robin. See you guys then!


	9. I've got a date with Starfire!: Robin

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks to InnocentStarInTheAnimeSky, Girl At Heart, fanficprincess101 and Vampiro101 for their support.

Gamer Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. While I do own copies of the videogames _Resident Evil: Survivor_, _Resident Evil 4_, _Destroy All Humans_ and _Turok: Dinosaur Hunter_, I do not own the rights to any of them either.

* * *

Chapter 9: I've got a date with Starfire!- Robin

"Rrraaaawwwwrrrrr!" the monster roared again, drool flying from its mouth, which was filled with so many sharp teeth that it looked like a double bear-trap.

On the rocky shore of the island, on the small stretch of land that the Teen Titans used as an obstacle course, the teenage superheroes were in their battle positions, breathing hard from their combat with the monster.

The beast they were facing was eight feet tall, hunched forward because it had an enormous back and shoulders that made its head stick out in front of it's body. It had two huge hands that were tipped with dagger-like claws that were two and a half feet long. It had bluish-gray skin that was black and red in some places. It also had a foot long serpentine tongue. The Hypnos Tyrant, from _Resident Evil: Survivor_.

"_You guys ready for Round 4?_" the Gamer asked his friends.

Robin nodded. "Titans, go!" Robin placed one end of his staff on the ground and used it to pole-vault through the air, delivering a kick to Gamer's Tyrant face. Although the monster's head turned a little bit to the side, there seemed to be no other effect on it. Quickly, Gamer swatted Robin with the back of his monstrous hand, knocking the Boy Wonder away, where he skidded along the ground for a moment, before making himself stop.

Transforming into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Beast Boy charged forward, aiming his dripping jaws which were filled with even more teeth than the Tyrant. As he thrust his head forward, snapping at his opponent, Gamer grabbed the dinosaur's top jaw with one hand and his lower jaw with the other. Holding the creature's mouth open with his arms, Gamer couldn't resist a joke.

"_Hey Beast Boy, remember what happened to that T-rex in _King Kong" he asked.

Beast Boy's reptilian eyes widened in fear, thinking that Gamer wouldn't dare pull his jaws open… would he? This was only practice, right?

Releasing the bottom jaw, Gamer grabbed a hold of Beast Boy's neck. Keeping a firm grip with both hands, Gamer lifted the dinosaur off the ground with his powerful Tyrant arms, tossing the giant lizard over his back, right into the ocean.

Terra focused her power on a large boulder in the ground, ripping it out of the earth and hurling it at Gamer. At the same time, Cyborg charged up his sonic cannon and fired at the Tyrant from the opposite side.

"Boo-yah! Take that, Gamer!" the cybernetic Titan shouted.

Reacting quickly, Gamer grabbed the rock Terra had sent at him in his huge hands and spun around, holding the boulder in front of himself. The sonic blast hit the back of the rock, pushing Gamer back along the ground with the force as the ground gave way under his feet.

As he managed to get another foot-hold and keep himself in place, blocking the sonic wave as Cyborg continued to pour on the power, a fist made of rock shot out of the boulder and hit Gamer in his face.

Dropping the rock from the impact of the punch, there was nothing blocking Cyborg's attack now, and Gamer was hit while he was off balance. His Tyrant body was propelled backward and scrapped a small trench in the ground. As the beam finally died off, Element popped out of the boulder that he had been hiding in, his body still formed to rock. He charged at his brother, ready to put him into a full nelson in order to pin him down.

As Gamer stood up to face his brother's challenge, he found his massive arms enveloped in black energy. Hovering above the battle zone, Raven focused as much of her power as she could muster in order to hold Gamer still so that Element could attack him.

Struggling with all his incredible might, Gamer finally wrenched his arms forward so hard that Raven's energy bonds shattered like glass. Flicking out a hand in an uppercut, Gamer swatted Element into the air, right in Raven's direction. Still formed to the substance of rock, Element collided with his girlfriend in mid-air.

"Uugh!" Raven cried out in surprise, pain and annoyance as she and Element both dropped back to the ground.

Suddenly becoming bombarded with flying rocks of varying sizes, Gamer spun around and charged at Terra, who had attacked once again. Covering his face with one massive arm and swiping at the flying rocks with the other, Gamer covered the distance between himself and Terra very quickly, and grabbed her up in his right hand.

As Terra struggled, her arms pinned at her sides in Gamer's grasp, she smiled in delighted surprise as Cyborg jumped onto the Tyrant's back. Converting his hand into a sort of stun gun, Cyborg jammed the pointed end into Gamer's huge shoulder and began zapping him with an impressive charge of electricity.

"Rrraaawwwrrrr!" the Tyrant roared in pain. Reaching up with his free hand, Gamer plucked Cyborg from his back and clutched him in his hand. Flicking his arms over his head, he sent Terra and Cyborg flying through the air.

"Aaaahhhh!" they shouted, before the two splashed into the ocean.

Two starbolts blasted Gamer on top of his head. Starfire dove down from the sky, beginning her attack at last. Landing in front of Gamer, she thrust her hands forward. Gamer did so as well and caught her small hands in his enormous ones.

The two stood, clutching each other's hands, pushing with all of their incredible strengths. Starfire's eyes glowed green and flashed defiance. Gamer's Tyrant eyes glared with a dull gray fury. With the sun shining high overhead, Starfire's Tamaranian strength was at its peak, and she was very powerful. But the Tyrants were the strongest creatures in the _Resident Evil_ universe, and since Gamer could become them and bring them into this world, in terms of pure strength, Gamer was even more powerful than the legendary Man of Steel.

After a moment, Gamer started pressing Starfire backward. Starfire looked worried, but determined to prevail and shouted a battle-cry as she began to push harder. But it was no use. Gamer raised his arms, lifting Starfire off of the ground by her hands, and threw her through the air, where she hit her back against the wall of the tower, twenty feet up. She fell back to the ground, more frustrated than hurt.

"I am unable to match him in physical combat. It seems that friend Gamer has managed to defeat all of us." she said in disappointment.

"Not quite." Robin said seriously. He had climbed back to his feet and now stood on the empty obstacle course, his staff in hand, facing down the Gamer. Robin motioned with his hand, silently telling the Gamer to come for him.

Turning his large body all the way around to face his leader, Gamer roared and charged forward, his hands pulled back, long claws digging rake-like trenches in the ground as he ran. Robin's eyes narrowed as he took note of Gamer's foot positions while he ran and how his weight affected his charge. Having attacked their teammate four times in this practice combat, the Titans had been beaten down fairly easy by Gamer's powerful form. However, Robin had learned from each defeat, and was now ready to fight back as if this was a real battle.

When Gamer was only a few feet away from attacking, Robin struck, fast as a rattlesnake. Despite his limitless strength, Gamer's Tyrant form was not immune to attack, and a second later, Robin proved that. First, he stuck his staff forward between Gamer's legs, where he then flipped it horizontally, knocking one of Gamer's legs forward and one of them backward. Gamer landed on the ground in a splits, earning a painful groan from the beast.

Swiveling to the side, Robin swung his staff and struck him in his huge chest, and then swept the staff up to crack against his chin, all in half a second. As Gamer fell flat on his back, Robin jumped up and landed on his chest. The tip of his staff pressed up against Gamer's throat.

"Game over." Robin said with a smirk. As a bright light covered Gamer, he turned back to a human. Robin dropped a short distance to the ground, where his legs landed on either side of Gamer's now considerably smaller body, his staff still pressed to the boy's throat. Even through his sunglasses, Gamer held an expression of surprise and nervousness at his position.

"Okay, you win Robin. You can take that thing away from my neck now." he said with a nervous chuckle, gulping. Robin pulled his staff away and moved back, allowing the Gamer to get to his feet. Cyborg, Beast Boy and Terra were dragging themselves to shore with the expressions of sore losers on their faces. Element, Raven and Starfire climbed to their feet and brushed themselves off.

Everyone looked at Robin in disbelief and almost awe-struck worship. Robin retracted his staff and placed it back into his belt.

"Robin, dude, how did you do that? You knocked Gamer down like he was nothing." Beast Boy said, nearly pulling his green hair out with confusion and shock. Gamer nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I was stronger than a Kryptonian and had heightened reflexes. How did you beat me so fast, after I beat you four times?" he scratched his head.

Robin shrugged. "I paid attention to your movements as we fought. I was able to spot your weaknesses the more you fought us." he explained simply.

Gamer raised an eyebrow. "Wow. You really are the best of us after all. I was stronger than all of you put together, but you managed to defeat me like I was nothing. And you don't even have superpowers!" he exclaimed. Once again, Robin had shown that he was even better than the Gamer at some things, and again, Gamer had a new respect for his secret idol.

Starfire placed a hand on Robin's shoulder. "You are a superior warrior, Robin. You have shown once again why you are worthy to be our leader." she said, smiling at him, making Robin shift nervously. Gamer noted Robin's attitude and began thinking.

Raven nodded. "Really good work. Now we know that if Gamer ever gets mad and tries to use one of those Tyrants, you can stop him." she said, monotone as always.

Robin brushed Starfire's hand away gently, then said, "Well, I guess that's enough combat practice for today. Let's go in and have some lunch." he suggested.

Terra nodded. "Yeah, good idea. I'm starving." she said with a giggle. Beast Boy smiled at her and took her hand, and they both headed inside. Element and Raven simultaneously reached for each others' hand without even looking at each other, and also headed for the tower entrance hand in hand.

Smiling at Robin, Starfire reached out and took his hand in hers. Robin blushed and looked at her nervously, pulling at his collar with his free hand as the red-haired girl led him inside.

Cyborg and the Gamer were left standing on the empty obstacle course. Turning to glance at Gamer with a strange look in his human eye, Cyborg held out his hand to him. Gamer quickly took a step back from him and crossed his arms, scowling at the robotic teen.

"Cut it out!" Gamer snapped at him, looking away. Cyborg put his hand in front of his mouth for a moment, then broke out in hysterical, uncontrollable laughter as he headed inside. Gamer followed a moment later, shaking his head and trying not to laugh at the joke himself.

------

It was Wednesday, three days since the Titans' battle with Red X.

In Element's room, Element and Raven were both meditating next to the small pond in the center of the room. Raven was levitating in the air with her legs crossed and her arms held out to her side, the thumb and first finger touching on both hands. Her eyes were closed and she continually repeated her chant.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." Although she did not really need to keep her emotions in check any longer, the ritual of meditation was so ingrained into her that she could not simply drop the habit. Besides, it was relaxing.

Two feet in front of her, also levitating in the air and facing her in a similar position, was her… well, let's just go ahead and say her soul-mate, Element. For all intents and purposes, she and Element were mates now, so the commonly accepted words to describe them could very well be applied to them. However, since they were only sixteen and fifteen, and since they were not staying together yet, words like _husband_ and _wife_, while technically accurate, were still not really appropriate. So we'll call them soul-mates for the time being.

Element hovered in front of Raven, his entire body consisting of her black energy. Since that Sunday night that they had first joined their spirits through his absorption of her power, the two had experienced their bond as often as possible; Raven giving Element a sample of her energy to consume and the two instantly becoming joined in all thought and feeling. Anyone who has watched _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ and listened to Changelings talk about the "Great Link" will have an idea of what Element and Raven shared through their union. The two had learned to adjust to the overpowering sensation that they had felt at first. Now, they could unify at almost any moment and retain their conscious focus and go about their regular activities, while still being able to share one another's existence and all the wonders that came with it.

While Element was able to activate the union by absorbing her energy, he was also able to feel what it was like to exist as her energy, creating a double ecstasy for him. In return, Element was using his own power to give Raven something else to feel as well. Anyone watching the two would have noticed the mist that filled the lower part of his room was swirling around Element's body, looking somewhat like a hurricane seen from orbit. There were also dust particles and plant seedlings floating in the air, swirling around him, being drawn into him.

Element was bringing the natural and chemical elements of his room into himself, through his energy-made body, and absorbing them in the center of himself. He knew that Raven was feeling exactly what he felt when he did this, allowing her to know what it was like to fuse with the elements. As such, Raven was taking in the sensation of the union with him _and_ what it felt like to become one with nature as he did. They were both feeding off of each other's powers as well as their souls. It was all quite intense; so much so, it was almost scary.

The union also brought their minds together in such a complete way that no words needed to be said, because whatever one of them thought, the other immediately picked up on it. It was such a close melding of their minds, that neither of them was sure which of them reached a certain thought first. It was as if both of them were getting the same idea at the same time, their unification went so deep.

_Robin has hardly left Starfire's side since the other night._

_Yes. He is trying to show how much he cares, in the wake of her rejecting Gamer as a boyfriend._

_Perhaps he will tell her how he feels soon. We may yet see them together._

_Unlikely. Robin is strong in many ways, but in this area of life, he is the weakest of us all. He will never be able to simply tell Starfire that he's in love with her. Even if he tries to, he will begin stuttering and wimp out. _

_He needs direction, confidence._

_He needs advice. He won't be able to do it on his own. Someone is going to have to help him._

_Agreed._

------

In his room, Cyborg sat in front of the control panel that he had set into his wall. On the screen in front of him was a pretty, young African-American girl, with her hair done up in two round clumps on either side of her head. She was wearing a yellow and black striped shirt.

"I just don't understand why you didn't tell us that Jinx was working undercover for you. We thought that she'd gone back to the bad side, and we might have hurt her if she hadn't let us know what was up. Why didn't you tell us, Bee?" Cyborg asked.

BumbleBee laughed. "Come on, Sparky! You've been a spy before, same as me. You know that the fewer people who know that you are a spy, the fewer chances there are that someone is going to slip up and spill it." she said, cocking an eyebrow.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, I guess it does make sense. But I wish you would have at least told me." he said, sounding hurt, although making it clear that he was faking it.

"Aww, does the poor robot feel bad that he might have hurt the girl he once had a crushy wushy on?" BumbleBee said in a mock adult-speaking-to-a-baby voice. The fleshy part of Cyborg's face turned red.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Knock it off, you little buzzer." he said, although a moment later, they both burst out laughing.

"So, what's up with you? You managing to survive living with four guys over there in Steel City?" he asked her. BumbleBee sighed and put her chin into the palm of her right hand and rested her elbow on the console she sat in front of.

"I'm barely managing to keep my sanity. Aqualad and Speedy are always competing, from fighting skills to charming girls. And I don't even want to get started on Mas Y Menos. Believe it or not, I only got a 'C' in Spanish class; I can hardly understand anything they say at all." she whined, overly dramatic.

Cyborg nodded sympathetically. "Sounds like you need a vacation." he prescribed.

Bee lifted her head up and raised an eyebrow in a somewhat intrigued manner.

"You know, we were talking about taking a little break and going to do our own things away from each other for a few days. We were thinking of doing it two weeks from now. Maybe I should get out of Steel for those days and go somewhere to have some fun." she said, now thinking seriously about her planned vacation.

Cyborg leaned forward a little. "What did you have in mind." he asked, a faint hope growing in the back of his mind.

On the screen, BumbleBee's eyes looked up to the ceiling for a moment, before looking back at Cyborg, a suggestive grin spreading on her face.

"Maybe I'll come out there to Jump City. I wanted to see what the night life was like the last time I was there, but I was too busy being a hero to enjoy my time. You guys got clubs, right?" she asked.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow, trying to look smooth.

"Yeah, plenty of them. What say I show you to one when you come here?" he suggested, obviously hitting on her, but in a charming voice that would be all but irresistible to a normal girl. But Bee was not a normal girl. Would she accept?

After thinking it over for a minute, BumbleBee smiled at him again, her eyes having just a slight dreamy look to them.

"It's a date."

------

Gamer sat on the end of the couch, alternately glancing between Robin, who sat on the other end, and Starfire, who was at the kitchen table, feeding Silkie spoonful after spoonful of her Gorka berries from a jar. She was cooing and speaking to him like he was a baby, which in a way was appropriate, since she always thought of him as her little baby, in a manner of speaking.

Robin was gazing at her, longingly from across the room. Gamer shook his head, wondering what the heck the deal was. Why was Robin holding back?

Yesterday, Teen Titans Group 1, consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and the Gamer, had dealt with an attack by Killer Moth, his daughter Kitten, her boyfriend Fang, and a giant insect-like creature that they had created. Robin had taken down Killer Moth, no problem. Starfire had subdued Kitten, stuffing a cloth into the blonde's mouth to finally shut her up. Cyborg had fried the giant bug thing to a crisp by hooking some cables in his arm up to a power line and looping them around the bug's neck.

Gamer had faced down Fang, deciding to fight fire with fire. He changed into Osmund Saddler from _Resident Evil 4_ and sprouted a giant spider-like parasite from his head, twice the size of the spider that made up Fang's head. To Gamer's disappointment, Fang had fainted dead away right on the spot. It was pitiful; he had been hoping for an actual fight.

Through it all, Kitten had been spouting obscenities about how Starfire would never be good enough for Robin, until Starfire finally gagged her. Gamer thought that with Kitten shouting the truth of their real connection out for the world to hear, Robin would put aside his nervousness and ask Starfire out. But noooo.

Gamer stood up and walked closer to Robin, sitting down next to him.

"Robin, man, you can't go on like this. You've had plenty of chances to ask her out, and now I'm not even in your way. What are you waiting for? Go for it!" he said to his leader.

Robin turned to face Gamer. "I don't know what to say? Or what to suggest we do. I got up the courage to ask her out once, but I didn't have any real idea of what I was doing. It was actually kind of a good thing that you beat me to it." he admitted.

Gamer shook his head. "Alright, that's it then. If you won't come up with something yourself, then I'll help you."

"You will?" Robin asked, surprised.

Gamer nodded. "Yeah. Just listen carefully. This is what you say, how you say it, and what you'll do…" he said. He leaned in and whispered into Robin's ear. Robin listened carefully, noting every detail of what Gamer told him. As he listened, Robin's facial expressions changed from nervous, to intrigued, to grinning brightly.

------

"Hey, Starfire." Robin said, smiling. Starfire paused in feeding Silkie and looked up at him, smiling in return.

"Hello, Robin." she said cheerfully. Robin began to fidget a little, and looked back over his shoulder at the Gamer, who still stood over by the couch. Gamer gave him a thumbs up and motioned for him to go on. Robin turned back around to Starfire.

"I was wondering something. It's getting late and it will be time for dinner soon. But conversations around here have been getting kind of loud and rowdy lately. Would you like to maybe go to dinner in the city tonight instead? You know, away from the others. I'd like to eat something in a peaceful setting and I thought that you might like to come along." he said, letting out a breath as he finished, unable to believe that he had said all that without incident.

Suddenly, the living room doors opened, and Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, Element and Cyborg all stuck their heads through the double doors and gaped in amazement at Robin, who did not notice that they were now watching and listening.

Starfire stared back at Robin, her eyes slowly widening and her mouth falling open little by little. Finally gaining back her voice, she asked the question.

"Robin… are you asking me out on a _date_?"

Robin recoiled in surprise at her directness and shot a look back over his shoulder at Gamer, but Gamer had turned away and pretended to study the ceiling, leaving Robin to deal with this one on his own. Robin looked back at Starfire and slowly nodded.

"Yes. I guess that's what I'm asking." he admitted. Suddenly, he was nearly bowled over as Starfire flung herself at him and nearly crushed him to death with her hug.

"Oh, I would love to accompany you on a dinner date, Robin!" Starfire confessed, filled with joy.

As she released Robin, his face changed from an expression of pain to one that almost mirrored Starfire's own delight.

"Uh, great! I guess we'll leave in an hour, if that's okay with you." he said. Starfire nodded happily, unable to speak with the joy that was welling up within her. She was floating off the ground, her emotions were so active. Picking up Silkie from the table, she floated towards the living room doors (the others had already hid themselves again), and towards her room, to prepare herself for dinner with Robin.

Still standing where he had been, Robin took a few quick breaths, unable to believe that it had happened. He had asked Starfire out and she had accepted!

Turning back to the couch, he walked over to Gamer and grabbed his hand, which he began pumping up and down at a strong pace.

"Thanks a lot, buddy. I don't know how I would have ever gotten the nerve to do it without your help. I owe you big time, Gamer." he said to his friend.

Gamer freed his hand and shrugged. "Forget it. Just enjoy yourself tonight, make sure Starfire enjoys it too, and whatever you do, _don't screw it up_!" he said, half joking.

Robin nodded. He turned around and headed to his own room.

------

One hour later, Robin stood in the living room, waiting on Starfire before they left for dinner. He had changed into a new uniform, since his previous one was a little dirty from their training exercise that morning. He had brushed his teeth, washed his face and put some more gel into his hair to give it a little extra spike.

The other Titans were all sitting around, pretending to be reading or watching TV or talking to each other, but their frequent grins and winks at him let him know that they knew what was up. Although he was clearly uncomfortable, he was grateful that none of them had said anything about it, at least. Clearly, they thought that teasing him about it right before the date could potentially ruin it, so they stayed silent.

Finally, Starfire entered the room. Although she was also still wearing a uniform, she may as well have put on a silk dress coated in diamonds. She positively glowed, and every Titan in the room could see it.

She had also washed herself up a bit, cleaned her hair and changed uniforms. Her smile seemed to be permanently stuck to her face and it lit up room. Her eyes seemed to sparkle like the emeralds they resembled. She carried herself with a slightly nervous, yet still confident air and seemed to put a little more grace into her step.

Cyborg, Beast Boy and Terra's eyes were all opened wide and their jaws were dropped to their chests. Raven and Element both raised their left eyebrows at the same time. Gamer was goggle-eyed, a small bit of drool running down his chin.

Robin, well… take the reactions of all the Titans as described above, and increase it about five-fold and you'll get an idea of his reaction. He couldn't move, he could barely breathe. He simply stared at Starfire as if staring at her was the only meaning to life. Starfire approached him and held out a hand.

"Shall we depart now, Robin?" she asked sweetly, even her voice seeming more angelic than usual. Robin could not answer. He simply nodded stupidly and took her hand. They both walked to the elevator, which closed on them a moment later.

Once the two love-sick Titans had left the room, the other's got off the couch or left the kitchen table and all gathered at the main windows. Down below, they saw Robin and Starfire exit the building, and Starfire took to the air, holding Robin by the hands as she flew with him to the city. Beast Boy turned to Gamer.

"Dude, I don't know what you said to him to make him do it, but I think I speak for everyone here when I say that you are a G-E-N-I-U-S!" he exclaimed. Gamer received pats on the back for his accomplishment.

Stepping back from the windows, Gamer grinned.

"My job isn't done yet. I have to make sure that everything goes right." he said. Taking out his controller, he tapped in a code and rotated the thumb stick. After pushing START, he was consumed in white light which faded a moment later.

Facing the Titans now was a small creature almost a foot shorter than Beast Boy was. It looked sort of like your classic alien depiction; grey skin, a large, egg-shaped head with huge goggle-like eyes that seemed black in some areas, while red in others when looked at in the right light. A round mouth near the bottom of the head with a single row of sharp teeth like needles.

The alien wore a light grey space suit with no helmet, but a blue light emanating from the collar. It had arms and legs as thin as the branches of a small tree. There was some alien writing going down the right side of the torso of its suit. A gun half the size of the alien's entire body was held in its right hand, glowing with blue electricity at the end of the weapon.

"Alright, time to make sure those two love-birds stay with the program." this creature said in a gruff, disdainful voice.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "Ain't you Crypto from _Destroy All Humans_?" he asked.

The Gamer nodded. "That's right. Cryptosporidium-137! With this form, I'm gonna spy on those two." he said.

Element shook his head. "I think Crypto is going to be easy to spot, Gamer. It's not exactly hard to spot an alien. Especially one as obvious as you."

Crypto tapped his huge head. "My holobob ability, remember? I'm going to disguise myself and watch 'em from afar. Now, if you would all excuse me, I told Robin where to suggest they go to eat tonight. So I need to get going if I wanna catch up to them and make sure that everything goes right. I'll see you chums later." he said, keeping Crypto's mocking dialogue from the game. He turned around and left the room.

Making his way to the roof of the tower, Crypto looked out across the bay and saw a speck disappearing into the city. There they were. Looking at the distance between the tower and the city, he judged that he'd probably be able to make it to land before his jetpack went out. He had to remember not to set down in the water, because Crypto always died when he landed in a large amount of water, and the same would happen to him now.

Hefting his huge zap-o-matic, which would be completely useless for this mission but came with the game character, Gamer jumped, activating Crypto's jetpack. He hovered across the bay, descending little by little as he went. Finally, just before the jetpack cancelled out for good, Crypto's boots touched down on solid ground. Now, it was time to get to the restaurant and see just how those two were doing.

------

Sometime later, Robin and Starfire were finishing up their salads in the restaurant that Gamer had suggested to Robin that they go to, called Cindy's Gourmet Steaks, one of the best barbecue restaurants in the country some said. They had not said very much to each other yet, but if Robin went ahead with everything Gamer told him, the evening would not end with dinner.

They did not realize that they were being watched from across the street. A middle-aged man in a plumber's outfit was looking at them, seeing them clearly in the window they sat next to inside the restaurant.

At least, he looked like a middle-aged man. That's what anyone looking at him would see, anyway. In reality, Gamer had used Crypto's holobob ability to telepathically cast the image of a normal person over himself, providing a perfect camouflage. Gamer had seen the man walking down the street and had holobobbed him before anyone could notice an alien walking the streets. Although it was really Crypto the Furon standing on the other side of the street, spying on the two Titans, it appeared that a normal man was there instead.

Now, the steaks were being served to Robin and Starfire. Gamer could see Robin say something to Starfire, which caused the alien girl to smile delightedly as she picked up her fork and knife and began to cut her steak, which she had poured a great deal of mustard over.

Deciding to pry in a little, Gamer focused and used Crypto's cortex scan to read their thoughts. Putting a hand to his forehead, he focused his mental powers on Robin's mind.

_I hope that I don't mess this up. If Starfire has a good enough time tonight, maybe I can actually tell her how I feel. That was the plan. I just don't know if I can go through with it, if it actually comes down to that._

Great. Robin was wimping out already, and they hadn't even finished the main course of their meal. Focusing on Starfire's mind, Gamer read her thoughts.

_Robin is being extra nice to me this evening. First he asks me on a date, and then he gives me compliments which are unnecessary to trouble himself with. Perhaps… perhaps he is trying to win my affections. Does he not know that he already has them? Maybe he will ask me to be… the girlfriend!_

Ah, good. So Starfire was enthusiastic about this. Well, it was sort of good. The Gamer still liked her. A not-so-small part of him was hoping that Robin would fail miserably, so that Starfire would take him up on his offer. But consciously, he would be patting himself on the back if this night went as it was supposed to.

------

Robin and Starfire walked hand-in-hand through the park. They had finished their meals nearly two hours ago and it was night now. Robin had suggested to Starfire that they go to the park for a while before heading back home, and Starfire had agreed eagerly, thinking that it was the perfect romantic setting.

A good distance behind them, Gamer followed casually, having changed his disguise after holobobbing a woman in her early twenties. Robin was going through with this part of the plan as well, but would he make good use of it? Gamer tried to be optimistic. After all, if Element and Raven could get together romantically in one night, then these two should have no problem. Gamer still couldn't believe that Element had just opened himself up and told Raven about himself, but his brother never lied and Raven confirmed it, so it must have been true.

Robin and Starfire came to a bench in an open area, framed on all sides by trees. Robin motioned for Starfire to sit down, and she did so, not letting go of Robin's hand as he sat down next to her. Gamer took cover in the bushes, deciding to drop the holobob now, and focused all of his power into listening in on their conversation.

A full moon shown in the sky above them, and Starfire's eyes seemed to glisten as she stared up at it.

"It is a beautiful night, is it not?" she said to Robin, slowly turning her head to look at him.

To his credit, Robin actually managed to keep his cool. The edges of his mouth turned up in a subtle smile as he looked into her huge green eyes.

"Yeah, it is. But not nearly as beautiful as the company." he managed to say without his voice cracking.

Starfire's eyes widened in shock that Robin would actually say such a romantic thing to her without seeming uncomfortable. She turned away, blushing and silently giggling like… well, like a teenaged girl.

"Thank you, Robin. I did not know that you thought of me as… beautiful." she said, softly.

Robin's smile widened, although he now began to sweat under his shirt, as he knew that he was coming to a point of no return soon.

"You are. I've always thought so." he confessed. Gamer quietly cheered him on.

Starfire turned back to stare at Robin.

"You have?" she asked, unable to believe that what she had always hoped for was true. Robin was attracted to her. How far would he take this?

Robin nodded to her, not looking away, his breathing now become a little more rapid, his heart pounding harder, knowing that the deciding moment was only a few sentences away.

"Yes, I have. And the truth is, Starfire, I've begun to notice it a lot more these last few months. Ever since we beat the Brotherhood of Evil, I've hardly gone a moment where I haven't thought about you. I always had the excuse of protecting the city to keep my head straight, but since the crime rate went down and Element and the Gamer came to stay with us, I haven't had that excuse. I can't help but think of you all the time now." he said.

Starfire's eyes were wide and her mouth hung open, unable to believe what she was hearing. Robin continued.

"I know that in the past, there have been… moments, between us. Special moments. After we beat Slade the first time, watching the sunrise on the roof, the prom, when we were stranded on that planet." Robin pause, blushing as he remembered that incident, not knowing that Starfire was blushing too. "But, I'd really like to have those moments more often, and for them to mean more than they have before."

Starfire finally found her voice. "Robin, what are you trying to say to me?" she asked, hoping to hear a very specific set of words.

Robin took a deep breath. "I've tried to deny it for a long time, because of who I am. Something's held me back, but I don't want it to anymore. I'm tired of hiding behind our friendship. I want it to be more than that."

Well, Gamer's advice had allowed him to go this far, it was time to take it all the way. Robin reached out and took Starfire's hands in his own, causing her to blush again and for her eyes to begin sparkling even more.

"I don't know how you really feel about the whole thing, but I just have to say it. Starfire…" Robin paused. The pause lasted longer than it should have.

From his hiding spot in the bushes, Gamer was silently cursing. No no no! Robin was going to choke! Gamer could tell from what he was getting from Robin's mind; he wasn't going to be able to go through with it, he wasn't going to be able to say it.

Deciding that to not do something and let this whole night go to waste would be a worse crime than temporarily stealing Robin's free will in order to help him bring something good into his life, Gamer focused Crypto's hypno blast and sent a telepathic command to Robin's brain, giving him temporary control over his friend's mind. If Robin wouldn't do it himself, then Gamer would give him the push that he needed.

"I love you." Robin blurted out. He was surprised that the words seemed to just leap out of him, as if his mouth had spoken on its own without his approval. But his surprise was nothing compared to Starfire's. After getting over the surprise that Robin actually said it, Starfire's beaming smile put the moon and stars above to shame. She threw her arms around Robin's neck and hugged him for all she was worth, cutting off Robin's supply of oxygen and the blood flow to his brain. After a moment, she relaxed her embrace, allowing Robin's body to operate again.

"Oh, Robin! I love you as well!" Starfire squealed in pure joy. She pulled back and looked into his masked eyes.

Gamer used the hypno blast again, this time sending a message to both of their minds.

Robin and Starfire both leaned in and began kissing. Their eyes opened wide at first, seeming to not quite believe that they were doing this. It was as if they had lost control of themselves for a moment. But then their eyes closed and they relaxed, letting the kiss go where it would.

Gamer sighed and couldn't help but smile to himself. Success. He'd managed to get them together, at last. A part of him was feeling jealous of course, wishing that he could be the one over there kissing her. But he knew that this is what they both wanted.

He decided that he should leave them alone now. That message he'd sent to their brains would have them kissing for quite a while; they wouldn't be able to stop if they wanted to, not that they would want to. But they sure would be tired once it finally wore off. Their lips and tongues might even be a little sore tomorrow. But he was sure that they'd enjoy it anyway.

Stepping out from the bushes, he began walking Crypto's short little legs away from the two on the bench, heading for the exit to the park. He supposed that he might just walk back to the tower from here, as he really had no plans this evening.

Heading for the far side of the park, Gamer stayed in the shadows, just in case there were any late strollers in the park who might panic at the site of his alien form. Although, his zap-o-matic was giving off a blue light with its electricity, so he supposed that staying in the shadows was unnecessary.

After he was far enough away from Robin and Starfire that he could no longer read them with his mind, he began whistling to himself through Crypto's sharp teeth. What a victory this was. Robin would have full respect for him because of his help, and Starfire would definitely be grateful. Maybe even enough to kiss him on the cheek, which was about as much as he could get from her now. But hey, now he was Starfire's best friend. Robin was her boyfriend now, so that position needed to be reclaimed, and he was the one to take that spot. First Element and Raven, and now Robin and Starfire; this was turning out to be one eventful week.

Suddenly, a dark figure leapt into his path, joined a moment later by another, then another and another. In seconds, Gamer was surrounded on all sides by ten shadowy figures.

Gamer tensed up, raising his zap-o-matic at the figures, ready to defend himself. As they stepped forward, drawing closer and closer around him, Gamer could see the dark orange circle in the middle of their faces, reflecting in the moonlight.

"So, Slade finally sent you boys after me, did he? Well, he should have sent a lot more. There's only ten of you, and I can tell ya, that's not nearly enough to take down the Gamer!" he declared in Crypto's mocking voice. Aiming the zap-o-matic at the closest of the robots, he fired. An arc of electricity shot out of the end of the gun and struck the mechanoid. The robot sparked and thrashed, the electricity cooking its inner workings. Smoke pouring from its head, neck and shoulders, the robot fell to the ground, glowing hot.

The other robots took fighting stances, ready to pounce on him all at once. While Gamer could have upgraded the weapon to something more powerful, like the ion detonator, he couldn't risk the noise ruining Robin and Starfire's make-out moment. Plus, if anyone else was in the area, they could be vaporized by the blast.

Deciding for a distraction, Gamer put a hand to his enormous head and focused his psychokinesis. He mentally lifted up one of the ninja robots and slammed it against another, so hard that both robots smashed into a tree along the side of the path. They broke apart into piles of junk.

Crypto became enveloped in bright light and a moment later, Gamer stood with his controller in his hand. Extending the cord from the device, Gamer grabbed the end of the cord and swung his controller in a circle above his head. The controller smacked into the heads of all seven of the remaining robots as a result, knocking them all back a step, allowing Gamer some room.

Retaking the controller in his hand, he began pushing a complicated pattern of buttons and rotating the thumb stick. Pushing START, he was consumed in light again. When the light faded, standing there was what looked like a combination of an ancient and futuristic warrior.

He was nearly six and a half feet tall, well muscled, wearing a reddish/brown leather vest, loincloth and boots. A flap of leather covered the back of his head as well. He seemed to have glowing red eyes set into a face that was covered in a mask made of a real skull. Parts of his arms, legs and head had small bits of metal here and there, revealing himself to be a cyborg, or possibly an android. In his right hand, he held a large club with four bones sticking out of four different sides, each bone a foot and a half long and coming to a razor sharp point. This was the Campaigner, the final boss from _Turok: Dinosaur Hunter_.

"Ahahahaha! Let's see what you boys can do against me now!" he declared in a deep, vibrating voice, sounding like the voice of doom itself.

The first of the Slade robots leapt at him, its arm pulled back in a fist, ready to deliver a punch to the Campaigner's skull face. Instead, the robot received a club in its own face, tearing its head clean off its body.

The other robots rushed forward. Gamer beat them all down, swinging his club every which way, bashing the robots into tin cans with each swing. He bashed their metal faces, slammed the long sharp bones of the club into their torsos, erasing their programming. He stomped on their downed bodies with his heavy boots. After thirty seconds, Gamer looked around himself at the robotic slaughter that had just taken place.

Hearing a slight beeping sound, he looked down at one robot that had its head still intact. Its slit eyes were flashing, and the beeping was emanating from its head. Changing back to his normal self, Gamer reached down and grabbed the robot's faceplate. Pulling it away, he saw a blank screen set into the robot's head. It flickered to life, revealing Slade's image on the screen.

"Well, Mr. Berenson, that was a remarkable show." the evil man said, his single gray eye glaring coldly at the Gamer. Gamer's own eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses.

"Slade. So we meet at last. How do you know my last name?" he demanded.

Slade grinned behind his mask. "I've done a little research of my own these last few weeks. Kyle and Cody Berenson, the proud sons of Darren and Tiffany Berenson, known among friends as Element and the Gamer."

Gamer took a step back at this revelation. Slade knew who he and Element were! He knew who their parents were! That meant that he knew where his parents lived. He didn't like the thought of that.

"What do you want from me and my brother!" he demanded of the madman.

Slade's eye narrowed further. "All in good time, my young friend. Very soon, you and your brother will be standing before me, and you'll both serve my purposes very well. Until then, you'll just have to be patient with your eagerness to meet me." he said.

Gamer clenched his fists, enraged at Slade's little game.

"Which of us are you really after? What are you really up to!" he shouted.

Slade lowered his head a little, mysteriously.

"You'll have to wait until the time is right. I'll be calling on you soon enough. Have a pleasant evening, Gamer." With that, the screen went blank. In frustration, Gamer swung his fist down at the screen, shattering it.

Well, that was just great. Slade had made himself known to the Gamer. He definitely had something up his sleeve, and had just let Gamer know how far his influence extended. It was a great tactic. Now Gamer would always be concerned about his parents' well-being, even though it was unlikely that Slade would bother going all the way to Piedmont to get to them.

The Gamer decided that he would not tell Element about this. His brother had just finally found a sense of happiness with Raven; there was no need to let him know that Slade had been digging into their lives. And there was no need to alert Robin either. Or any of the others. Gamer would keep this little encounter to himself. He'd just have to be ready when Slade decided to come for Element and himself.

Even if Slade knew about their pasts, he and Element were very different from the other Titans, in terms of their powers and their fighting tactics. He had no idea who he was messing with. When he finally came for them, all of the Titans were going to give him a big surprise.

* * *

Okay, now Robin and Starfire are together and Slade is finally starting to get down to business. Element and the Gamer are going to be having their hands full pretty soon. But that's still a few chapters away. 

Next chapter, with Robin and Starfire now together, Element and Raven together, Beast Boy and Terra together, and BumbleBee planning a visit to Jump City to see Cyborg, the Gamer is the only Titan left without someone to spend his time with. While he's not too bugged about it, he still wishes that he had something important to do in this time of relaxation. Gamer gets his wish. An old enemy of the Titans has now arrived, and Robin assigns Gamer to play watchdog while the other Titans enjoy their leisure time. But, is Gamer really only following orders or he is making a new and unlikely friend?

The story will be two thirds complete and starting to come to a head with the next installment, Element and the Gamer chapter 10: A fallen angel (yeah right).

See you guys then!


	10. A fallen angel: yeah right

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks go to Death Jester, Girl at Heart, Vampiro101, SpikeTV58, and of course, InnocentStarInTheAnimeSky, for their continued support of this story.

Gamer Disclaimer: _Silent Hill_ and _StarFox 64_ do not belong to me. Neither does Teen Titans.

* * *

Chapter 10: A fallen angel (yeah right)

It was only a few days away from being exactly two months since the Teen Titans had met Element and the Gamer, and many interesting things had happened in recent days past.

Robin and Starfire were now (finally!) a couple and the tower had been in great celebration over the event. Gamer had secretly told Robin how he had been operating "behind the scenes" during his date with Starfire, helping the two get together. Robin decided not to share this news with Starfire, so that she wouldn't know that he had almost chickened out. Gamer had some good blackmail material with that knowledge, but he probably would never use it.

The other Titans were constantly congratulating Robin and Starfire and making a few teasing jokes and kissy faces towards them, but all in all, the two pretty much ignored the others in the days since their date and focused mostly on each other. From spotting one another during weight training to star-gazing on the roof at night, the two love birds were hardly ever out of each other's sight for the six days following their date.

Element and Raven, although not having come right out and admitting it, were acknowledged as an official couple, and like Robin and Starfire, were hardly ever away from one another for more than a few minutes. Nobody dared to tease them about it, except for Gamer, for fear of Raven tossing them out a window with her powers.

With all the love that had recently been kindled around the tower lately, Beast Boy and Terra became stricken with a romance bug all over again, and the two could be seen making out in corners or on the couch at various times of the day, the smacks from their kisses echoing throughout the halls of the tower.

With BumbleBee's scheduled visit only four days away, the Titans had decided to spend that Saturday night at one of the clubs in town and simply party and enjoy their evening. The three couples were looking forward to the chance to dance with their significant others and Cyborg was really looking forward to the chance to impress BumbleBee.

But that was all still days away. For now, everybody was just relaxing around the tower in a lazy haze. The drop in crime for the summer was allowing the Titans to behave like regular teenagers, but perhaps they were getting too used to the time off.

Entering the entry hall, Gamer continued drying his hair with a towel, having just come in from swimming in the ocean for the last hour. He was wearing a pair of red swim trunks and some flip-flops. He entered the elevator and took it up to the common room.

As he exited the elevator, he headed over to entertainment area to watch some TV. No reason to change out of his swim attire just yet. But he stopped when he got to the back of the couch. Beast Boy and Terra sat on it, lip-locked. Gamer rolled his eyes. Watching TV in the living room was out.

Sensing his presence, Beast Boy and Terra opened their eyes and separated, glaring at Gamer.

"Do you mind?" Terra asked, Beast Boy making a "go away" gesture with his hand. The Gamer put his hands up.

"Alright, alright. Sorry to disturb you." he said, holding in a chuckle. Perhaps he could go change into his uniform now after all. He headed to the hallway doors and left the room. As soon as they saw him leave, Beast Boy and Terra went back to business.

------

Exiting his room in his regular uniform, Gamer headed towards the girl's wing of the hallway. He figured maybe Element would want to hang out with him at least. Gamer was the only person his brother never turned away. Well, at least he _used_ to be the only person.

Coming to his brother's door, Gamer simply walked in, knowing his brother had no secrets to keep from him. Walking down the short set of stairs to the dirt floor below, Gamer looked around for Element. He spotted him sitting at the base of one of the very small trees that he'd planted in his room. He wasn't alone.

"Well, this looks familiar." Gamer said in an amused yet somewhat annoyed voice. Element and Raven separated their lips and looked at Gamer, frowning.

"Don't you every knock?" Element asked, irritated. Gamer made a mockery of looking shocked.

"Oh, so I have to knock to enter my twin brother's room now, is it?" he asked sarcastically, already understanding the reason why, but dang it, this was never an issue before!

"Yes, as a matter of fact you do." Element stated. Raven's frown deepened to a hurry-up-and-get-out-of-here look. Gamer threw his hands up.

"Alright, fine. Whatever." He turned around and walked up the stairs to exit the room. Raven and Element resumed their kiss after he departed, Raven giving Element a bit of her energy to absorb.

------

Figuring that maybe he could go and study some of the leads that Robin had collected on Slade and maybe figure out what he was up to, the Gamer approached the door to the crime lab. Opening the door, he took two steps into the room and stopped, sighing in exasperation.

Starfire had her lower back pressed against the desk in the crime lab, Robin leaning in against her, his arms around her waist while hers were around his neck. They were deep into a kiss-fest. Hearing him walk in, they parted from one another and turned to him, Robin all but giving him a death glare, Starfire showing only mild annoyance.

"Yes, what is it?" Robin asked, irritably. Gamer sighed again and shook his head.

"Nothing." he said quietly, turning around and walking out. Robin and Starfire were quite happy after he left.

------

Gamer headed straight for Cyborg's room, knowing that unless BumbleBee had somehow teleported here, there was no way that he could be making out with anyone. Maybe they could go down to the garage and work on the T-car or _something_!

Stopping outside his cybernetic friend's door, Gamer slid it open the slightest bit. Inside, he could see Cyborg sitting at the console set into his wall. On the screen was BumbleBee.

"And maybe later on, after the others come back here, we could walk along the boardwalk down by the beach, or maybe into the forest, or whatever you'd like to do." Cyborg said to Bee's image in his smoothest, most charming voice. That was all Gamer needed to realize that Cyborg was currently occupied.

Shutting the door, Gamer turned in defeat towards his room. Maybe he'd hook his controller up to his own TV and play some games. He felt like killing something right now; maybe he'd play _Manhunt_ or _The Suffering_.

He stopped. No, he didn't feel like playing any games, not even ones that would relieve his frustration. Instead, he made his way up to the roof. Closing the door behind him, he walked to the edge of the tower and sat down with his legs dangling over the edge, watching the sunset.

He was happy for all of his friends. He truly was. Beast Boy and Terra had been together for close to four months now without any problems at all.

His brother had finally found someone special, and it was his dream girl no less. He was very proud of him for learning that there were a few points to life. All those days of telling Beast Boy and Cyborg to leave Element and Raven alone so that they could get closer had finally paid off. Mission accomplished.

Robin and Starfire had wanted each other for the year and half that they had known one another, and now they were finally getting what they wanted. True, Gamer wished that he could have had Starfire, but she was happy with Robin, and Gamer considered Robin a worthy idol, so it was good for him too, and Gamer wished them both the best of luck with their new relationship.

Now Cyborg was finally getting an opportunity to get close to a girl without it being mission-related, and since BumbleBee seemed interested too, they were probably going to get off to a good start, and heaven knew that Cyborg needed it.

The Gamer was happy for all of his friends. They were all living in a state of pure joy at being alive, enjoying the most coveted of all emotions; love. All except for him.

Gamer was the odd one out. Cyborg at least had someone across the country. Gamer didn't even have that. The only girl he had ever really been interested in was Starfire, ever since the report on the news about the Gordanian invasion that had followed her arrival on Earth. Now she was no longer an option, so he was left with no one.

Gamer sighed and held his hands in his lap. There wasn't even enough crime taking place in Jump City for him to lose his love-less woes in the busy life of a superhero. No distractions from the fact that he had yet to find someone special, just for him.

The sun was almost down, the sky was beginning to darken, the moon was starting to appear and the faintest light of stars could be seen in the far east, where night had already come. Gamer turned himself to face that way, deciding to watch the stars come out over the forest beyond the edges of the city.

Suddenly, as he was looking to the east and watching the darkening sky, the Gamer saw a streak of light flash across the sky. It seemed to come from somewhere out of the sky high above and arc down to the ground below. Listening closely, Gamer could just barely hear a slight thudding sound. The sound of an object striking the ground at high speeds on the far side of the city, perhaps?

Gamer was about to call his friends on his communicator, be stopped himself. They were all busy, and he didn't want to ruin their moments. He would go and check this out himself. It could be nothing more than a meteorite landing. If it turned out to be something important, then he'd call them.

Pulling out his Nintendo 64 controller from his belt, Gamer tapped in a code and transformed himself into one of the bird-like flying demons from _Silent Hill_. With an inhuman squawk and a flap of his wings, Gamer took to the air, heading in the direction that he'd seen the whatever-it-was come down.

------

Arriving at the clearing between the outer-most neighborhood of the city and the forest, Gamer spotted a small amount of smoke rising into the air from a specific spot. Landing on the ground near this spot, he changed back to normal and approached the smoke.

As he got closer, he realized that he was looking at a small crater, nearly fifteen feet across and almost as deep. Approaching the smoking edge of the crater, Gamer peered through the steam down into the hole. While he could not see very clearly, he could vaguely make out a humanoid form lying at the bottom of the crater. That settled it. Taking his communicator from his belt, he activated it.

"Titans, come in. This is the Gamer. Come in Titans." he spoke into it. A moment later, Robin's face appeared on the small screen, looking annoyed, but alert.

"What is it, Gamer?" he asked.

"I'm standing at the edge of the forest. I suggest that all of you guys get down here. Follow my signal. There's something here you guys need to see. Get here as quickly as possible. Gamer out." he said, then turned off the communicator.

Kneeling down, he attempted to look again at the figure he could see lying at the bottom of the hole, but he could see no details other than the fact that whoever it was, they were thin.

Suddenly, Gamer saw light flashing across the ground beneath him. A sound, like static coming from a TV screen, filled his ears. Gamer looked up to the sky and his mouth fell open in surprised shock.

"Well, this is going to be a busy night." he said, taking out his game controller again.

------

Cyborg stopped the T-car about fifty feet away from the smoking hole in the field between the city and the forest. As he set about activating all of the anti-theft devices, the other Titans began heading towards the crater. Starfire and Raven were already in the air, since there had been no room for them in the T-car. As they approached the smoking hole, no sign could be seen of Gamer.

Gathering around the crater, the Titans leaned forward a little and looked down into it. Afraid that Robin was standing too close to the edge and might fall in, Starfire put a firm hand on his shoulder, just in case.

Looking into the smoking hole, the Titans could not see anything at the bottom. However, there did seem to be some movement within, though it was obscured by the smoke. Cyborg scanned the crater with his eye.

"I can't get an exact reading, but there's definitely something moving around in there." he reported.

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well, I can't tell what it is."

"I don't see Gamer anywhere." Element said, looking around for his brother.

Suddenly, a hand shot up over the edge of the crater and grabbed at the singed ground. The Titans all yelped in surprise and jumped back a step, readying themselves in case of trouble. The hand looked delicate and feminine, wearing a strange glove that covered the wrist more than the hand, with a jewel on the back. Much like Starfire's gloves.

Another hand reached over the edge of the crater and grabbed at the ground, reaching further than the first, revealing more of the arm, covered in a gray material. Finally, with a good grip on the ground, the person trying to pull themselves out of the crater gave a grunt and a familiar head of black hair and purple eyes peered over the edge of the hole, causing all of the Titans to gasp in shock.

"Blackfire!" they said as one, going to full combat stances.

Getting her arms under her upper body, Blackfire put the proper weight on the ground and balanced herself, getting her legs up and out of the crater and onto the ground. She lay on her stomach for a moment, dirty, sweating and breathing hard, looking like she'd just been through a battle zone. Of course, crashing onto a planet with your full body could make anyone look like hell.

Lifting her head up, Blackfire beheld the surprised and scowling faces of the Titans. Five she recognized, two she did not. Starfire stepped forward.

"Blackfire. What are you doing here?" she demanded.

Blackfire actually smirked a little, though there was no humor in the expression.

"Oh, hello sister dear. Did you miss me?" she asked sarcastically.

Starfire's scowl deepened. "That is not an answer to my question." she said sternly.

Blackfire's smirk disappeared, replaced by a look of annoyance and weariness.

"The Pangerans pursued me here. They shot me out of orbit as I was trying to enter the atmosphere and I crashed here. The big crater behind me is a big giveaway." she said, sarcastically again.

Robin stepped up next to Starfire. "And just who are the Pangerans?" he asked.

Then, static and a whistling sound began to fill the air and the Titans looked up.

"Those are the Pangerans. Although they seem to be dealing with someone else right now." Blackfire said, maneuvering her body into a sitting position and catching more of her breath.

In the sky above, four figures could be seen soaring across the darkening sky, one larger than the others and all of them getting closer and more visible. One of them looked like some sort of advanced jet, with a white body and blue wings, a picture of a fox silhouette on the side. Beast Boy, Cyborg and Element all recognized it as an R-Wing fighter from _StarFox 64_, meaning that it was Gamer.

The other three objects in the sky were smaller, about the size of Cyborg. Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy all took to the air, flying higher to get a better look at what was happening.

With a flash of blue light, Gamer's fighter fired twin blasts from its hyperblasters, the two blue laser beams cutting through the air in the direction of one of the other flying objects. The intended target dodged out of the way a bare second before it would have been hit.

The flying fighters now soared directly over the Titans remaining on the ground, giving them all a good look at the three flying figures. They closely resembled the Gordanians that they had fought back when Starfire had first come to earth. However, they were a bit thinner, their reptilian skin was red and green, and under their arms they each had four long tentacles, two under each arm. In addition, they seemed to be cybernetic life-forms; part biological life, part technology. Their feet, hands, tentacles and lower jaws were made of some kind of metal. Their eyes glowed a bright red, giving off an unnatural light that could be seen from a distance. Instead of wings, on their backs they had some kind of cup-shaped devices attached to their bodies that seemed to keep them in the air, somehow. It was from these strange devices that the static sound emanated.

Making an upside-down U-turn, Gamer's R-Wing banked back over the Titans again, this time very low to the ground. As he soared right over their heads, the R-Wing was consumed in a bright light and Gamer reappeared, dropping to the ground in a roll and popping back up onto his feet a moment later.

"Watch it, those guys mean business!" he shouted to his teammates. Robin extended his staff and Cyborg charged up his cannon.

The three Pangerans swooped in low over the Titans and hovered in mid-air, glaring down at them with their red eyes, which lit up the area. One of them pointed its metal clawed finger at them and spoke in a deep, malicious voice.

"You defend the intruder. Those who protect criminals and offenders of Pangera will suffer!"

Robin turned and looked back down at Blackfire. "What did you do this time, Blackfire?!" he demanded.

She looked back up at him. "For once, nothing. They are just being overly strict about their customs. How was I to know that it was sacred ground?" she said.

The three Pangerans then began to dive forward, making right for Blackfire. Not sure what was going on, but not about to allow this to just happen without a good explanation, Robin decided that defending Blackfire would be the right course of action. For the moment.

"Titans, go!" he shouted. He reached into his belt and pulled out a disc, which he then flung at the lead Pangeran. The alien knocked it aside with one of his tentacles and the disc was knocked all the way into the tree-line of the forest, where it exploded harmlessly in a large cloud of smoke.

Starfire swooped in and grabbed one of the aliens by the tentacles, hauling him further into the sky. The ugly creature, very similar to the ones who had once held her as a slave, snarled at her, its eyes glowing red. Starfire's eyes glowed green in return. The Pangeran threw a punch at her face, but Starfire caught its robotic claw in her hand and easily held its arm at bay.

Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at another of the Pangerans, the blast of sound and energy hitting the creature square in the chest and sending him flying higher into the sky. Raven then wrapped the alien lizard in a cocoon of her dark energy and flung it at the ground, hearing it hit with a loud splat.

Blackfire was stumbling to her feet, her knees shaking, backing away toward the forest-line. The Titans had her pursuers preoccupied, so this was a good chance to get away from both groups. As she turned and began to run in the direction of the forest, a wall of solid earth rose up in front of her, blocking her escape. Turning around, she caught the glowing yellow gaze of a blonde-haired girl in a black shirt and yellow shorts. Someone new to the Titans she presumed, as she had never met her before.

"Oh no you don't." Terra said to her with a smirk.

The third Pangeran changed course and banked away from the Titans and towards Blackfire. The Tamaranian princess looked up to see the alien coming right at her and her eyes briefly glowed a light purple shade. Before she could power up her starbolts, the Pangeran came near enough to her to throw a punch at her snarling, soot-dotted face. With a gasp of pain, Blackfire collapsed to the ground. Her weakened state from her fall from the heavens made it very easy for her to slip into unconsciousness.

The red and green reptile set his metal feet on the grassy ground and stared down at his quarry.

"Now, we shall take you back to-" but he was cut off as Beast Boy, in the form of a ten-foot long squid, landed on his back and wrapped his tentacles around all of the Pangeran's limbs. A tentacle was wrapped around the alien's throat as well, as Beast Boy attempted to apply a sleeper hold. Struggle as he might, the Pangeran could not break free from the squid's grasp. A moment later, he slipped into unconsciousness. Turning into a gorilla, Beast Boy picked up the alien and threw it over next to the one that Raven had put down.

Above the clearing, Starfire was still holding back the Pangeran she had challenged.

"You look familiar. Are you related to the intruder?" it asked her in a raspy voice.

Starfire nodded gravely. "Yes. She is my sister. And although she may deserve whatever punishment you intend to give her, you will not touch her until I say otherwise!" she shouted. Starfire then drew back her own fist and punched her opponent in his scaly face.

The Gordanian look-alike fell to earth, next to his fallen comrades. Starfire lowered herself to the ground and several of the other Titans gathered around, looking down at their fallen foes. Starfire's opponent was still conscious and looked up at all of them with his single open eye.

"You will all regret that you opposed us. The Tamaranian intruder has committed the vilest offense imaginable, and _will_ be brought to justice. And for aiding her, you will all share in her punishment." he choked out through his cybernetic jaws.

Deactivating his cannon, Cyborg stared down at the alien.

"Yeah well, just remember how easily we took you down this time around, if you ever want to come back to our neighborhood. Around here, _we_ are the ones who bring others to justice. So you go deal with your problems on your planet, and let us decide if that girl needs punishment, alright. Star, care to do the honors?" he asked.

Starfire reached down and took a hold of one tentacle from each of the Pangerans. She began to swing them around in a circle, going faster and faster as she did. The one conscious alien screamed as she spun. Finally, Starfire released them, flinging the Pangerans into the sky, where they disappeared in seconds, right out of the atmosphere and back into space where they had come from.

"Hey guys." Beast Boy called to them. The Titans all looked over to see him kneeling down over Blackfire's unconscious form. "Blackfire's out cold. What do we do with her?" he asked.

The teenagers gathered around the fallen alien. Blackfire didn't look so well. She had burns on her skin and a few bruises, although how much of it came from battling the Pangerans all through space and how much came from crashing into Earth like a meteorite they could not tell.

"Robin?" Starfire looked at him with a silent plea. Although Blackfire had lied and manipulated them all before, and had on two occasions deliberately tried to ruin Starfire's life, she was still her sister, and Starfire's loyalty to family went deep. Robin saw all of this in her eyes and relented. How could he say no to her, especially now that they were finally together?

"I guess we can take her back to the tower and help her get well again. But if she has committed another offense and those Pangerans come back to take her, we might have to hand her over." he stated, making it clear that they would still uphold the law, even for a family member of one of their own. Starfire nodded and smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it.

Robin smiled back, then turned to Cyborg. "Why don't you carry her back to the T-car, Cyborg. Beast Boy, you'll have to fly back this time. Terra and Element will ride in back with Blackfire."

Raven spoke her mind. "Let's just hope that she isn't dragging us all into another scheme, again." The others nodded.

------

Blackfire awoke to the sound of beeping. Her head ached, but at a tolerable level. Her back ached worse. She had plummeted to Earth back-first and had hit very hard. But she'd lived through worse.

Opening her eyes, Blackfire saw a ceiling above her. She was in a bed, or more accurately, on a hospital bed, but this didn't look like a normal hospital. She saw that her right arm was hooked up to a machine that was giving off a beeping sound, presumably the rhythm of her heartbeat. Looking at the walls and ceiling again, she recognized where she was. Titans Tower. This was the infirmary; she remembered from her previous visit to Earth, when she'd been given a tour of the tower. She remembered seeing the Teen Titans again after landing, then the Pangerans, a pain in her head and then… she was here.

"I was wondering if you were going to wake up today." said a voice to her right. Blackfire looked over into the corner of the room where the voice had come from. There, she saw a boy sitting in a chair. He had on a red spandex uniform with black gloves and boots, a belt around his waist. Something was written on his chest, but he was mostly in the shadows, so she couldn't read it. He was wearing what the humans called "sunglasses", a form of eye protection from the sun's rays.

The boy stood up from the chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He walked out of the shadows and Blackfire could see that he had brown hair, combed and parted rather well. He appeared to have a bit of muscle, but not an outstanding amount. She could probably break him in half if she wished. He had a handsome face, framed just right by those sunglasses. All in all, he seemed like the kind of boy who would belong in a place where superheroes lived.

"Who are you?" she asked him, wondering who he was. He had not been here the last time she came to earth. He then answered her.

"I am the Gamer. I'm the one who spotted you when you crash landed. I also lured the Pangerans away from you." he said, lowering his arms to his sides. She could now see the writing on his chest. It said, **_The Gamer_**.

"Thanks. You must be a new member of the Titans I take it? Same as that blonde girl I saw earlier?" she said.

He nodded. "Yeah. My brother and I joined almost two months ago. The girl you saw was Terra. She joined before us."

Blackfire smiled in her most sincere-looking-but-not-really-sincere way.

"Well, thank you for the rescue. I guess I owe you one. How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Since last night. You've been out for nearly 18 hours. It's almost one o'clock in the afternoon now." he answered her.

Blackfire looked around. "Where's Starfire and the other Titans?"

Gamer shrugged. "They are around. They've all got things to do." he said in an amused tone. "Hanging out with each other. Even Cyborg's got someone to talk to, even on long-distance. I'm the only one without a 'special someone' around, so I was assigned to guard duty on you." He stepped a bit closer, inspecting her. "Well, to tell you the truth, this is a sort of an honor, in its own way." he said to her.

Blackfire raised and eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Gamer titled his head. "I've done a lot of research, you could say, on the Titans. Especially Starfire. I learned about you from it; about your first visit to Earth and when you betrothed Starfire to a blob alien. You're considered one of the most infamous siblings in the universe." he said.

Blackfire was surprised that a total alien stranger knew about her in such a way.

"Well, I guess that it is an honor to be known." she said.

Gamer pulled out his communicator. "I need to let the others know that you are awake." he said. Activating the device, he spoke into it. "Robin, you and the others better get up here. Our guest is awake."

------

Cyborg rechecked all the monitors and the readings he had taken and looked back at Robin.

"She's a little banged up, but she'll make a full recovery in no time. Nothing is broken and there's no internal injury. I'd say that she can leave the infirmary tomorrow."

Robin nodded and turned to their unwelcome guest.

"Well, Blackfire, now is the time for you to explain yourself. What did you do to the Pangerans?"

Blackfire looked a little offended. "I didn't do anything to them. After I was _banished_ from my home on Tamaran," she said bitterly, giving a glare at Starfire. "I just traveled around the galaxy, sleeping wherever I could and taking what food I could find. Not the most enjoyable lifestyle." If any of the Titans listening felt any sympathy, they did not show it.

"About a week ago, I landed on Pangera. I went right for a forest area, away from any settlements so that nobody would know I was there. But apparently there were hidden alarms throughout the forest and the Pangerans were alerted to me. It seems that the forest I slept in is some kind of holy grounds and off-worlders are forbidden to set foot there. The Pangerans really took it personally.

"So I flew back into space and those three Pangeran security officers chased me all the way here." she concluded.

Robin frowned. "Nice story. Can you prove it?" he asked.

Before Blackfire could answer, Raven turned to him.

"I don't sense any deceit from her, Robin. I'm pretty sure that she's actually telling the truth this time. Believe it or not." she added, giving Blackfire her own frown. Element was feeling her irritation with her through their union, and gave the Tamaranian the same look.

Robin crossed his arms. "Alright then. What are you going to do now, Blackfire?" he asked her. She thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I don't really have anywhere else to go right now. Maybe I'll just stay on Earth for a while." she said. Beast Boy cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Oh yeah. Like we'd just let you go off and make your own little home somewhere and start stealing stuff whenever you feel like it." he said sarcastically.

"Well," Blackfire said, "If you don't want me around here, then I'll leave."

Starfire had to stay it. "Perhaps, she could be allowed to remain here, with us?" All of the other Titans looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"Star, are you nuts?! You remember what happened last time she stayed with us?" Beast Boy asked. Starfire turned to Robin, speaking directly to him.

"She has nowhere else to stay. And we already know what she is like, so we will be able to maintain watch over her." she said to him. Robin put a hand to his chin.

"Well… I don't know Star. She's caused us trouble before." he said. Blackfire was getting annoyed with them speaking about her as if she wasn't in the room with them. Starfire took Robin's other hand.

"Please Robin. I do not want my sister to be wandering alone in space with no place to go." she said, giving him the face. Robin visibly softened. All the other Titans grinned and slowly shook their heads. They had now officially lost him on any decision that might go against what Starfire wanted. It was quite amusing.

"Alright Star. If that's what you really want." Clearing his throat, he addressed Blackfire. "Okay Blackfire. We'll allow you to stay here with us, but you are going to be under constant supervision until further notice. If you behave yourself, then it won't be permanent. But if you start making trouble, we'll confine you to the tower. Cross the line, and you'll be looking for another planet to stay on. Do I make myself clear?"

Blackfire sighed. "Do I have much of a choice? I understand. Your roof, your rules, yadda yadda yadda. Yeah, I got it." she said, not feeling like arguing right now.

Robin nodded. "Alright then." he turned to the Gamer. "Gamer. I want you to watch over Blackfire during her stay." he said. Gamer looked surprised at this.

"Why me?" he asked.

"Because you were already assigned to watch her while she was recovering, so I might as well keep you on the task. Besides, your powers will make you the most likely to be able to handle her, if no one is around to help you if she makes trouble."

Gamer nodded. "Well, okay then. Sure, I'll do it." he said.

Terra raised her hand. "Uh, I have a question. Where is she going to stay? There are no more rooms available in the tower."

It was a good question. All the personal quarters were at the top of the tower, and there was no more space to make another room. Every other room except the living room and the garage was essential to their superhero duties, so they couldn't convert them into a room for Blackfire. And there was no way that Cyborg and Robin were going to let Blackfire stay in the garage, where their vehicles resided.

"I guess she'll have to stay in the common room. Don't mind sleeping on the couch, do ya Blackfire?" Cyborg asked.

Blackfire shrugged. "I've slept on worst these last few months." she said, giving an irritated glance at Starfire.

"Okay then." Robin said, "You'll stay in the common room for now, until we can come up with other arrangements."

"Oh goody." Raven and Element both said at the same time.

------

"So, what are you going to do now, on your first day out of the infirmary?" Gamer asked.

Blackfire thought for a moment, then looked down at her black and silver outfit, which was torn and burnt in places.

"I think I'll get some new clothes. These are not going to do me any good, and if I'm going to be staying on Earth, I'll need an appropriate wardrobe. Where's a good place to shop for clothes?" she asked.

"The mall." Gamer answered.

"Well, then let's go there." Blackfire said.

It was the next day, and Cyborg had decreed that Blackfire was well enough to leave the infirmary now.

Blackfire had left the infirmary a little while ago. Cyborg had been generous enough to make her some breakfast along with the others, but there was no pretense. Everyone was obviously watching Blackfire carefully. Nobody tried to strike up conversation, and it was no coincidence that everyone had almost finished with their food before she left the infirmary. When Cyborg handed her the plate of food he had made for her, the others were already getting up.

So she had sat at the table, thinking she'd be eating alone and not really caring, but was joined by Gamer, who had sat on the other side of the table. He was following Robin's order to the letter, keeping a strict watch over her during her stay. Blackfire did not try to talk with any of the other Titans, knowing that they did not trust her and with good reason. But she was not here to make friends anyway. Besides, she was still tired from being pursued by the Pangerans

Now, with Gamer have just asked her what her plans for the day were, a destination was in mind. The city mall.

"Lets get moving." she said to the Gamer, and began heading for the stairway to the roof. Gamer followed, wondering if she even knew where the mall was. As the two exited the tower onto the roof, Blackfire scanned the city beyond. She turned to Gamer.

"What direction is the mall in?" Gamer lifted a finger and pointed. Blackfire grabbed him by the wrist and took to the air.

"Whoa! Hey, give me some warning next time you decide to do that!" he shouted up at her. She gave him her sarcastic smirk.

"Yes master!" she shot back.

----

Gamer waited outside the dressing room for Blackfire to change into her new wardrobe. He kept expecting at any moment to hear an explosion from the girl blasting her way out the back of the building and making a run for it. Starfire's sister was not well known for following rules, and staying with the Titans meant more rules than she could probably handle. But rather than a wall being blasted open, Gamer heard the sound of a dressing room door opening behind him.

"How do I look?" he heard her ask.

Gamer turned around and raised an eyebrow, then his sunglasses to get a better look in the light. Blackfire was now wearing an outfit identical to Starfire's except that it had different coloring. Rather than being purple with green jewels on her gloves and at her neck, Blackfire wore the tight top and short skirt and boots that were emerald green, with purple jewels on her gloves and another at her neck.

Thinking about it a moment, Gamer chuckled. Blackfire crossed her arms and frowned at him.

"What's so funny?" she asked, thinking that he was making fun of her.

Gamer shrugged. "Nothing. It's just that you seem to have a yin and yang thing going now with Starfire." he said. Blackfire stared back blankly for a moment, then place her hands on her hips, raised an eyebrow and leaned forward a little with a puzzled frown.

"What?" she asked, clearly not knowing what he was talking about.

Gamer pointed to her outfit. "Starfire has the same outfit, but in purple, and she has emerald green eyes and starbolts. You are now wearing an emerald green outfit with purple eyes and starbolts. Your colors are opposites now, yin and yang. Very appropriate." he said, making a circle with the thumb and forefinger on his right hand, giving her the "ok" sign.

Blackfire straightened up and lowered her arms to her side.

"Oh. Well, thank you." she said, then walked passed him. Gamer shook his head, smirked and followed her.

The two walked through the mall for a while, Blackfire window shopping without really planning to get anything, Gamer following a little bit behind her to make sure she stayed in his view and out of trouble.

As time went by and they continued walking the mall, Gamer found his eyes focusing more closely on Blackfire after a while. With that stunning new outfit of hers, Gamer, being a boy, couldn't help but look over her in it. It wasn't until he found himself smiling slightly as he stared at her pert backside that he realized that he was checking her out. He shook his head and laughed at himself. It was kinda funny. For nearly two years he had been attracted to Starfire, and now here he was catching himself checking out Starfire's sister, who was almost a year and a half older than he was. He wasn't the only one either; nearly every guy in the mall turned to get a second look at the alien princess as she walked by.

It was amusing, but Gamer wasn't letting it go to his head. Blackfire was just as beautiful as Starfire, but her personality made it a different kind of beauty. Darker, more lusty than loving. Blackfire was his enemy and he wasn't forgetting or ignoring that. Hot or not, he kept his priorities straight. It took more than good looks to really catch his interest.

After a while, Blackfire got tired of window shopping and suggested that they return to the tower. After they exited the mall, Blackfire took Gamer's arm again (without giving him warning ahead of time) and flew with him back to the tower. She was secretly looking forward to comparing herself to Starfire with her new outfit.

-------

The next three days passed relatively uneventful. Robin remained in the crime lab most of the time, with Starfire at his side a good deal of that time. Gamer spent nearly all his time keeping watch over Blackfire, who really didn't do much besides sit on the edge of the roof and gaze at the sea, seemingly lost deep in thought. Beast Boy, Terra and Cyborg spent a lot of time playing three-way dodge ball in the gym, with Beast Boy having the advantage of being faster than either of his fellow players.

Raven and Element, as usual, spent all their time in one another's rooms, alternately reading and meditating. Element was almost always in the form of Raven's dark energy now. He could be seen walking around the tower on those occasions when he exited his room as a person made completely of blackness. It was like seeing a bit of Raven's energy walking around with a will of its own, which in a way was what it was, since Element had literally become that energy.

When in this state, Element and Raven were connected and their bond at its strongest. In this state, the two could be at opposite ends of the universe, in two separate dimensions, and still know exactly what the other was doing/thinking/feeling at the exact moment that it was happening. There was no separation and there was no distance between them. In this way, both knew that they'd never have to worry about surprise Christmas or birthday presents from one another, as secrets were impossible to keep between the two now. They liked it that way.

Now in the middle of the afternoon of this fine Saturday, Cyborg was pacing the front hall with his hands behind his back. BumbleBee was due to arrive any minute now, and when the evening rolled in, they were all going to go out and party at a club. BumbleBee had looked up locations for a fun evening in Jump City on the web and had chosen the location for them, since she was going to be the guest of the Titans West. Ironically, Bee had chosen the same club that Blackfire had taken the Titans to during her first visit.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang to the double doors of the entrance hall. Cyborg stood up straight, cleared his throat, sniffed under his armpit to make sure there was no scent of motor oil coming from him, then approached the door. He slid it open. BumbleBee stood with her hands resting on her lush hips, smiling at him as he opened the door for her.

"Hey Sparky. How ya doing?" she asked, winking at him. Cyborg blushed on the human portion of his face, but other than that, kept his cool.

"I'm doing great… now!" he said with a big grin, holding his arm out behind him, indicating for her to come on in. Bee chuckled a little and walked past him into the tower entrance room. As she walked past, Cyborg could not stop his eye before it moved down and got for him a good look at her butt, looking absolutely fine in a pair of black tights. Bee knew he was doing it and let him, pretending not to know where he was looking and kept on walking to the elevator to wait for him.

Blushing a bit more, and very glad that she had not looked back and caught him checking out her rear, Cyborg closed the door behind him and followed her. Catching up to her at the elevator, he pressed the button for the doors to open. He then looked down at her and was surprised and pleased to see that she was already looking at him. She smirked.

"So, Starfire's sister been giving you guys any trouble?" she asked, trying to make conversation before the party tonight. Cyborg smirked in return.

"Nope. Gamer's been keeping her in line somehow. Don't know how he does it, but it must run in the family, 'cause Element has pretty much got Raven tamed now too." he said, grinning at this last statement. They stepped into the elevator together and Cyborg pushed the button for the top floor.

"I can't wait to meet them. These guys really sound cool. And to congratulate Robin and Starfire." she said with a grin, knowing that the two most obvious love-struck people she had ever met were finally getting with the program.

While she was looking forward to that, and to meeting Terra, the two new boys, and even Starfire's sister, what Bee was really thinking about at that moment as she looked Cyborg up and down was to wonder how much of that metal was solid and how much of it was just protective plating. She often wondered, and thought perhaps it might be true, that some of those metal pieces could be removed and that there was some human flesh still undamaged under it. Being a girl, she couldn't help wonder, if it were true, just how much human flesh he really had left under there.

The elevator door opened and the two made their way into the common room, secretly taking peeks at each other when one wasn't looking the whole way. Upon entering, everyone looked up.

"Yo, Bee!" Beast Boy called to her, waving. Starfire hovered above the ground and flew over to her fellow Titan.

"Oh, it is most glorious to see you again, friend Bee who Bumbles!" Starfire declared, throwing her arms around Bee and giving her the world famous Starfire hug of near death. Upon release and getting her breath back, Bee smiled at Starfire.

'Hey Starfire. Nice to see you again too." she said, then moved further into the room, Cyborg staring again as she went.

After saying hello again to Robin, Raven and Beast Boy, introductions of the three new members went around. BumbleBee shook hands with Terra, then with Gamer and Element. Bee was good with telling a few things about people at first meetings, and she knew that these three were cool people and well deserved to be Titans.

For the sake of politeness, Robin called Blackfire over from the corner she was more or less hiding in to meet BumbleBee. The two girls stared at each other for a moment, and although they did not shake hands, they said hello to each other and nodded respectfully. Bee could tell about this girl too, and knew that she was trouble alright. She was just behaving for the Titans because she was bored, nothing more.

After all the introductions and the hellos, the group of ten teens just sat around and talked for a while, Cyborg telling Bee most of the events that had occurred in the last two months since the two brothers arrived, with some of the others filling in here and there when they felt that Cyborg wasn't giving certain details enough justice.

Eventually, when only a small portion of light from the sun was visible on the western horizon, Robin announced that the time to go out was now.

"Yes!" Beast Boy and Terra boy said in unison, jumping to their feet at the same time, hands held together. Raven and Element rolled their eyes and sighed. Beast Boy and Starfire had begged Raven to join them at the club tonight, while Cyborg and Gamer had talked Element into going. The two had reluctantly agreed, knowing that they'd just stay in the shadows along the walls, out of sight and mind of everyone else there. They had better things to do, like meditate while in the union.

------

The club was full of partying adults and teenagers and playing some really awesome tunes for the night. People were having a fantastic time, and the Titans knew that they'd be able to have some fun too, with the worries of superhero life slipping away for just one evening. As Blackfire had so accurately put it last time they were here; cool crowd, hot music.

However, it was only going to be hot for so long. The reason why BumbleBee had chosen this location on this night to come and visit the Titans (Cyborg really) was because it was request night. Knowing that Beast Boy was the group's most dedicated helpless romantic, Bee had asked him back at the tower earlier if he had anything really nice to request the DJ to play. Something slow and sweet. Beast Boy had grinned evilly, having just the thing in mind. But before then, it was time to party.

Beast Boy, Terra, Cyborg, BumbleBee, Robin and Starfire all made their way out onto the dance floor. Robin and Starfire didn't dance quite so wild as everyone else, since Robin had almost no dancing skills and Starfire was not quite sure what sort of moves she should make with this kind of dancing, as it all seemed to be pretty random. Still, they got into their own little rhythms in no time. The other four Titans were really boogying to the blaring music.

Raven and Element were off in an obscure corner of the club, sitting at a booth and holding hands across the small table. Element had absorbed her energy, but only into his palms, so as not to frighten any of the partygoers. He also absorbed the floor of the establishment with his feet, allowing him to feel every person in the room with their feet on the floor, and all the sensations within them. Since they were unified, Raven was able to feel this sensation too. It was all quite exhilarating.

Being pretty much on probation, Blackfire did not feel like dancing with the others. They'd only watch her the whole time and wouldn't let her really have fun, which she knew she could have in this place if there was someone who actually wanted to be around her. Gamer didn't dance either, staying near Blackfire to make sure she didn't wander off or bother anyone. Besides, he didn't have a dance partner.

After a couple of hours, the time for requests had come. A few people had made some requests and the Titans had danced through them. Then, when no one else seemed to have anything, Beast Boy broke away from Terra and went to the DJ. Whispering to him, Beast Boy came back to Terra. He whispered to her too, and Terra grinned brightly and hugged Beast Boy around his neck.

After a moment, the DJ started the song. The moment that the first few notes played, Element and Raven both raised their heads suddenly and looked towards the dance floor. It was "Shape of My Heart" by the Backstreet Boys. The first time Element had heard that song, it had somehow gone to him, the only song of its type that he actually liked. Raven picked this up from him, like everything else about him, and knew that he actually wanted to dance with her for this one. He did not have to ask, as she knew the instant that the thought came to his mind, and having nothing to be embarrassed about when with him, she agreed in her mind, which he knew instantly. They both stood up and moved hand in hand to the dance floor.

With eyebrows raised and Raven and Element's arrival to the dance floor, the other six Titans turned to their partners and moved in close, taking the appropriate stances for a love song. While Beast Boy and Terra and Robin and Starfire had become extremely close and were comfortable with this way of dancing, Cyborg and BumbleBee were a little nervous.

Cyborg placed his left hand on her waist, while Bee put her right hand on his left shoulder. Then, they took their remaining hands in each others' and began to gently move with each other as the song played. Cyborg was worrying like crazy the whole time that he might accidentally step on her foot, and that if he did, it would kill the date right then and there. If he stepped on her foot, he would surely break it. To his credit, Cyborg danced very well, and Bee could tell that he would not step on her. She smiled up at him, looking into his eyes, human and artificial. He stared back down into hers. The sweet tune of the Backstreet Boys filled their ears and made this moment feel very, very good.

Neither Element nor Raven knew how to dance to save their lives, but they managed in their own way, dancing in the darkest corner of the floor with the most number of other dancers around to block them from view. They stared at each other, he into her bluish/purple eyes and she into his masked green eyes. No words were said, and none needed to be said. Of all the couples in the room, they were the closest ones to be had, and their love for each other passed wordlessly between their souls. Literally.

Starfire was in heaven. Robin was very good at dancing to a slow song, as she knew from their previous dance at Kitten's prom. But now she was dancing with him as his girl, and it was a dream come true. She could not stop staring at his handsome face, his masked eyes, so filled with love for her. She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder as they danced, Robin actually managing to not blush at this show of affection in full view of nearly two hundred people in the club then.

Terra hand both arms around Beast Boy's middle, her head resting against his shoulder, while he had both of his arms around her waist. While Terra wasn't really big on boy bands or love songs, she absolutely adored some of the ones that the Backstreet Boys could crank out, and "Shape of My Heart" was one of her favorites. He had requested it just for her, and she was so happy to be dancing with him to it. Raising her head a little, she kissed his cheek, then returned her head to his shoulder. Beast Boy beamed proudly.

Watching from sidelines, Gamer felt very jealous of all his friends. Happy, sure, but also jealous. He wished so much that he could share that song with someone. Heck, just dancing with someone would do, there didn't even have to be an actual relationship going on. It was just that they all looked so happy and at peace, and if he could just feel only a little of that same peace, by dancing with someone to a slow love song like this one, it would be better than nothing.

He sighed, and then looked to his left at Blackfire. She was leaning back against the wall, watching the others with a sort of longing in her eyes, and it occurred to Gamer that she might be wishing the same thing. Having been on her own and on the run for several months, maybe she just wanted to have a little of that same peace that he wanted, if just for a while. And that was when the thought hit Gamer, like the cliché light bulb going on in his head.

"Blackfire, you wanna dance?" he asked her.

Blackfire looked at him, surprised. "Me? Why are you asking me?"

Gamer shrugged. "Well, I want to dance with someone, and you look like you do too. Neither of us has a partner, and since I'm supposed to be watching you anyway, I figured I'd at least ask if you wanted to." he said to her.

Thinking it over for a second, Blackfire considered his offer. The song was halfway over and it was doubtful that another song that asked for a slow dance was going to be requested to night, so this might be her only opportunity. Deciding that she had nothing to really lose, Blackfire nodded.

"Sure." she said to her guard.

Reaching out with a black gloved hand, Gamer took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Putting the other hand on her waist and allowing her to put her other hand on his shoulder, they began to slowly dance along with the remainder of the song.

Terra noticed first, and motioned with her chin for Beast Boy to turn around and look. He did so and his jaw dropped and his ears stood up. He waved a hand at Cyborg, who looked at what had Beast Boy and Terra so interested, then whispered to BumbleBee, who turned around to look too.

Cyborg waved to Robin and Starfire, but also wound up catching the attention of Raven and Element, who could see his arm waving. The two couples turned to look and all four teens stopped dancing. Element, Starfire and Robin, the three people Gamer was closest with, were especially concerned with what they saw. The Gamer was dancing with Blackfire to the song.

Gamer was not staring Blackfire in the eyes. There was no connection between them, so he had no need to look her in the eyes. However, the soft blue lights coming from the ceiling and shining onto the dance floor did make a pretty cool shine in her eyes, that he easily caught the reflection of. It also bounced off her dark hair pretty nicely too. She was good at dancing as well, so he was enjoying this moment, glad to have somebody to dance with and feel like a part of the crowd. Blackfire was also enjoying the dance for mostly the same reasons, and also did not stare into Gamer's sunglasses, but still liked how the blue lights reflected off of them.

------

It was almost midnight, and the Titans exited the club and stood under the street lights outside. BumbleBee turned to the others and spoke, more to Cyborg than the rest.

"Well it's been a great night. But I've got to be going back to Steel City now." she said, a definite tone of regret in her voice. Cyborg's face fell.

"You sure you can't stay one more day?" he asked, silently begging the answer to be yes.

Bee shook her head. "Sorry. I'd love to stay longer, more than anything," she said, gazing into his eyes and truly meaning it. "But I can't leave the guys there all alone for one day, or there's no telling what might happen. I wish they could have decided on somewhere to go, so that I could have a real vacation like I wanted. Maybe next time though." she said, smiling sweetly up at Cyborg.

Although disappointed, Cyborg had to smile back. Bee looked around his massive form, making sure that the others were not looking right at them at the moment. Then she moved further around him, just to make sure that he was blocking her from the others completely.

That done, she leaned up and kissed him on the lips, holding it there for about two seconds, then drawing back. Cyborg's face went nearly full red and he struggled to keep from yelling "yahoo!" as loud as he could. BumbleBee smiled back at him.

"See you again soon, Sparky. Real soon, if I have anything to say about it." she said, plainly flirting with that last sentence.

Cyborg cocked an eyebrow to appear smooth. "Make sure you do." he said, taking her hands in his and squeezing them gently. After a moment, he released her hands and BumbleBee took a few steps back, keeping her eyes on Cyborg for another moment. Then, she spread her delicate wings and took to the air.

As she flew away, she spun around, flying on her back, and blew a kiss at Cyborg. The big teen grinned a mile wide and waved back at her.

As Gamer took out his controller, prepared to change into a vehicle to transport some of the others back to the tower, Element gently grabbed him by the elbow and led him away from the others. Once they were far enough, Element turned to his brother.

"What was that all about, Gamer?" he asked, trying to sound neutral. Gamer looked back, confused.

"What was what all about?"

Element frowned. "Dancing with Blackfire. Why did you do that?"

Gamer shrugged. "I wanted to dance, so did she. So, since I was supposed to be watching her anyway, we decided to dance with each other while the song was still going. Is there a problem with that?" he wondered, not sure what his brother was getting at.

Element shook his head for a moment, thought for a few seconds, then shrugged.

"No, it's nothing. I was just starting to wonder there, that's all." he said plainly. "Forget it."

Gamer thought for a moment, then figured it out. He looked at his brother and started laughing.

"Don't worry, bro. I'm not starting to like her or anything. I just wanted to dance with someone and she was available at the moment. There's nothing going on." he said, trying to reassure his twin.

Element nodded. "Like I said, forget it." he moved away, back to Raven. Shaking his head, Gamer tapped in the code that changed him into the Cheetah from _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_ and opened his doors for Beast Boy and Terra, who sat in the back, and Blackfire, who sat in the driver's seat. Cyborg took Robin, Starfire, Element and Raven back in the T-Car.

In spite of what he had told Element, on the whole drive back to the tower, the Gamer couldn't quite stop thinking about the dance. And about how nice Blackfire felt, sitting in his car seat.

* * *

Guys, I am sooooooooooooooo sorry for the wait on this. Four and a half months, I thought I'd _never_ get this one finished. Between school, work and a relationship, I had half of this thing done and sitting in my computer for all that time, with only a paragraph or two being added here and there. But, low and behold, here it is after all this time. I hope you all enjoyed it. The story is now two thirds finished! Only five more chapters to go until the end. 

For those confused about Blackfire's presence in the story, read the opening descriptions at the beginning of the first chapter, and you'll see that this was the plan all along. Where it goes from here, you'll just have to read to find out, and I promise that the wait will not be nearly as long as this one was. And the next few chapters will be very detailed about certain things, so the actual plot to this story is finally going to start taking shape.

Next chapter, as Gamer spends more time guarding Blackfire, he begins to understand her past, her personality and what makes her tick. He finds that she is not at all what he expected and what everyone else thinks she is. But when his trust in her causes him to lapse in judgment and aid her in committing a crime, he will have to choose between his new family, the Teen Titans, and his newest and closest friend. Drama to the extreme is what you'll find in Element and the Gamer chapter 11: Friend or foe? See you guys then!


	11. Friend or foe?

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks go to Death Jester, Girl at Heart, SpikeTV58, longhairedhorse, mattchew, Glacier alchemist, Vampiro101 and of course, InnocentStarInTheAnimeSky, for their continued support of this story.

Gamer Disclaimer: _Final Fantasy X_ does not belong to me. FFX is being used for you Death Jester. Enjoy! And of course, I do not own Teen Titans.

* * *

Chapter 11: Friend or foe?

Gizmo gathered up all his equipment and all the tools he was going to need. Everything was set out on the table before him; the equipment for the physical work on his left, the computer he'd used to do the programming on his right.

He was deep in Slade's lair, in a work station that Slade had provided for him to complete his task in privacy and without distraction. The place creeped him out, big time. It was dark, there was the sound of turning gears, and a couple of Slade's minions were behind him standing against the wall to provide any assistance he may require and, Gizmo suspected, to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't try to do anything that would make Slade… upset.

He would need to build the physical storage unit first, so he'd begin the real labor and then do the programming. The labor wouldn't take long, but to do the programming for what Slade wanted would take some time. While he wasn't entirely sure how Slade planned to use this thing against the Titans, and to take control of the new ones, Element and the Gamer, Gizmo did have an idea as to its purpose and its intended use. But Gizmo was not about to bring this up with Slade, no sir. Not for all the money in the world.

Gizmo was really starting to wish that he had never made this deal with Slade. It had seemed so simple at first, when the one-eyed madman had approached him with his proposition. Do a little project for him, and in return Gizmo would be given a large supply of very advanced technology, some of it stuff even Gizmo himself had not seen and would drool over to get his hands on.

But now, it hardly seemed to be worth it. Gizmo was practically in the dog house now with Slade. Although the man had not come out and said it, Gizmo believed that Slade knew, or at least suspected, that Gizmo had told part of their plan to Jinx. And that put Gizmo in a world of danger that he could not even begin to fathom. If Slade thought that Gizmo had spilled even only some of his guts to anyone about their agreement, there was no telling what he would do.

The truth was, although he would not admit it, Gizmo was scared of Slade. More than scared; he was downright terrified of the man. Slade was cunning, cruel and manipulative. To top it off, he was a genius and the biggest criminal force on the western side of the continent. The man was capable of anything, at anytime. Theft, extortion, slave trading, anything that served his ever-secret purpose. Even murder.

A look at the tech that Slade had provided him to work with further fueled Gizmo's fear. Slade did not just invent all the devices he owned. Some of them he had modified, sure. But he did not make them all by hand, or even with his robots. They came from other sources, and the two most prominent ones that Gizmo recognized so far were Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp.

Wayne Enterprises technology was no mystery; Slade had stolen those gadgets. Gizmo had read up on billionaire Bruce Wayne's technological advances and knew from the descriptions of the founding man himself that Wayne would not share any of his technology with a man like Slade. All Wayne Enterprises property that Slade possessed had been stolen, without a doubt. But LexCorp…

That was what really scared Gizmo about all this. Before he had joined the H.I.V.E., Gizmo had hoped to someday work in a lab at LexCorp, perhaps even in Metropolis itself. Some of the most advance technologies in the world, rivaling those of Wayne Enterprises, were produced by LexCorp. And from some of the things that Gizmo had heard, Lex Luthor was no saint like Bruce Wayne. When he saw an opportunity, he took it, which was what led him to founding the world's leading technological development corporation and becoming the richest man on earth. And from what Gizmo had seen, most of the technology Slade possessed originally came from LexCorp.

So Slade had actual dealings with Lex Luthor. Gizmo could not fathom what Luthor received in return, but if the two of them were even casual acquaintances who knew each other only from business transactions, that meant that Slade's connections ran farther and deeper than anyone could have ever imagined. Slade was a lot more powerful than simply a man with one eye and a creepy mask, living in dark hiding places in one simple city on the California coast. No, he was a much bigger player than even the Titans themselves probably suspected.

This was it, Gizmo had had enough. He would finish this project for Slade, and then he would cease all dealings with him and anyone like him. Gizmo had worked for Slade, for the Brotherhood of Evil, and had attended the H.I.V.E. while it was under the control of Brother Blood, and he had simply had enough of organized villainy. The tech that Slade would give him, the chance to someday work for LexCorp, none of it was worth it. If a guy like Slade could make a deal with Lex Luthor, then that meant that big time criminal masterminds were far more corrupt than he could imagine and he wanted no part of them anymore. His fear of Slade and the idea that he was trading with Lex Luthor had killed the fun he thought might be in that kind of life.

If he was going to do what he wanted with his genius and technical skill, it would be as a mediocre criminal, no big capers. He did not want to be involved with these big time creeps anymore.

Focusing on the job at hand, wanting to complete his task and say goodbye to Slade and all other evil overlords forever, Gizmo went back to his work, ready to give Slade his ultimate weapon against the Teen Titans and then put Jump City behind him and never look back.

------

Robin, Starfire, Raven and Element were all sitting on the living room sofa, watching a movie called _Fools Rush In_. It was actually quite entertaining. Two people of different ethnicity and cultures fall in love and get married in a hurry, dealing with the differences in their life-styles and their families afterward. What the Titans who were watching it liked most about it, was that the differences in culture was a lot like Robin and Starfire's relationship. Not in the same way, but it did remind them all of how unique it was having a couple consisting of one human and one alien.

Robin's arm was around Starfire's shoulders, while Starfire herself rested her head on Robin's shoulder. The two looked absolutely adorable together like that, especially after all the time that the rest of the team had been waiting to see them like that. Element and Raven sat side by side, her left hand in his right. They were sharing the union through those hands as they touched, as they did at every possible chance they had these days. But it was only in their hands; Element was not completely composed of Raven's energy at the moment.

Beast Boy and Terra were attempting to make a tofu cake together and not really succeeding, but were having a lot of fun in the process. Both were covered with soy baking products all over their faces and in their hair, and the two young lovers couldn't stop pointing and laughing at each other, except for a few pauses here and there for a quick kiss. Cute as Robin and Starfire were, and as deeply connected as Element and Raven were, Beast Boy and Terra were the undisputed kissing champions in the tower.

Cyborg was on one of the lower levels of the tower in his own little workshop. He was trying to construct a teleportation gateway that would allow Bumble Bee and himself to slip over to each other's towns at any given time, without the delay of traveling across the whole country. In effect, going to see each other would be reduced to the equivalent of walking next door.

So far, Cyborg wasn't having much luck, but he had plenty of time to figure it out. Raven was no help, because her teleportation used magic and supernatural power. Cyborg was an expert in science, not wizardry, and so would have to settle for a technological, scientific method of teleportation.

He sat at a large metal desk, drawing blue prints for his teleporter, which looked a lot like the Stargate from the movie and TV series of the same name. He'd be able to get it done in a jiffy if he could just figure out how to bend the space-time continuum and fold it into a pocket, allowing him to take a step from one location and end up at another at the very next instant. He knew that space-time was already curved, but…

He pushed off from the desk, deciding to take a break. Leaving the room, he headed to the elevator and took it up to the top level. Entering the living room, he raised a hand.

"Hey, y'all." he called to his friends. Various forms of "Hey Cy." came back to him. Raising an eyebrow at Beast Boy and Terra covered in what he recognized as tofu ingredients, Cyborg moved to their refrigerator and began rummaging through.

As he moved to the kitchen table to eat his various snacks, he looked around and noticed that everybody was not here.

"Hey, where are Gamer and Blackfire?" he asked around a mouthful of roast beef sandwich.

Robin answered him. "Blackfire wanted to go out for a while. I think she said something about the mall." he said, trying to hold back the sound of dislike in his voice for Starfire's sake. He still did not like or trust Blackfire and most of his team agreed with him. Still, she was Starfire's sister, and that meant that he could not openly show his contempt for the girl who had caused them such trouble before.

Cyborg swallowed his bite. "So Gamer went with her." he said. It was not a question. Element turned his head to look at Cyborg, the single lock of hair that fell down slightly over his mask waved with the movement.

"Gamer goes everywhere with Blackfire now." he said, in an odd tone. Raven gripped her boyfriend's hand a little tighter and their eyes met. She knew what was troubling him. She knew everything he knew now, and so did he know what she knew.

A silence, a somewhat awkward one, filled the room at Element's statement, and no one made any attempt to say otherwise, for they all knew it was true. Wherever Blackfire went now, the Gamer was always with her.

------

As Gamer walked beside Blackfire down the streets of Jump City, their eventual destination being the city mall, he couldn't help sneaking glances at her out of the corner of his eyes. Whether Blackfire noticed this or not, she gave no sign. Gamer couldn't see how she could know, as his eyes were hidden beneath his sunglasses.

Over the past few weeks that he had spent watching over her to make sure she stayed out of trouble, he had slowly developed a fondness for her. She was a beautiful girl, sure, but that was only one aspect of her, and if that had been all there was, Gamer would never have thought of her as anything more than a potential threat who happened to look good.

But there was something else, he was sure. Blackfire had been mostly well behaved since her arrival on earth. She had not gone into the behavior he had heard she was known for; arrogance and mischief. She had been subdued in a way, knowing that she had no place to go and could be kicked off of earth at any moment. While her usual cocky attitude had shown itself a few times here and there, she was mostly restrained and quiet.

But in that guise, Gamer had caught several signs of an inner turmoil. He saw it in the way she looked at Starfire. There was a show of anger, resentment and perhaps even jealousy in her purple eyes anytime she looked at or talked with her sister. Gamer did not have any idea why, only that it had something to do with their past history before either of them ever came to Earth. Polite as she pretended to be when around the other Titans, Gamer knew that Blackfire really wanted to beat Starfire to a pulp, badly.

Blackfire also showed a certain level of contempt for the humans who populated Jump City, although for varying reasons. Only a week ago, the other Titans had been called away to do battle with Mad Mod, who had been holding all the children in Jump City's various schools hostage in specially created traps and the other Titans had been running all over the city to prevent the disasters. Gamer had waited in the park, near the center of town, to rush to any of the areas of battle to lend assistance if any were called for. Because Blackfire was not to be out of Gamer's sight until Robin decreed otherwise, she had been with him, sitting cross armed and cross legged on a bench, looking bored and irritated.

When a commotion was kicked up in an area of the park close by, Blackfire had gone to check it out, Gamer right behind her, secretly checking_her_ out. What they had found was a trio of teenage girls, picking on another teenage girl who was clearly in the category of "unpopular". The leading girl, a blonde with a purple blouse and tight jeans, had taken a pendant necklace from the other girl, and was comparing it to her own, which was newer and shinier, telling about how her father paid more for hers because she was the perfect daughter, from a better and more important family than the other girl. She had thrown the other girl's pendant back to her, and then the blonde and her two bubble headed friends had walked away laughing. This happened before Gamer could step in, and since the pendant had been returned, no real crime had been committed other than harassment, which was not really something the Titans were trained to handle.

Blackfire had shown immense anger towards this spectacle, and began spouting to Gamer about how that stuck up girl did not deserve the jewelry she wore, and that she herself was more worthy of such a thing than that girl had been. Gamer was unsure just what Blackfire's deal was, but it seemed that she was saying the exact same thing the blonde girl had said to her victim, without realizing it. So… was she upset because of the injustice of teenage behavior on this planet, or because she wanted to do the same thing to the blonde girl and show her what it really meant to have someone better than you take something that you held dear and laugh at you for it? It confused Gamer to no end.

Later that night, when the Titans had returned to the tower, tired and sore, Gamer had told the others about the whole thing, while Blackfire was sleeping. Robin, Raven and Cyborg had pretty much gone off on him about his concern for what Blackfire was thinking, and for giving so much thought to her anyway. They basically told him that he was getting too close to Blackfire, too friendly with her, and forgetting that she was still to be considered a potential enemy. Starfire had looked at Gamer with sympathetic eyes, knowing that the others were right, but thankful that Gamer, like herself, was worried about her sister's well being during her stay. Element had simply looked long and hard at his brother, even after the "meeting" had broken up, and when Gamer put his hands out and said "What?" in an attempt to make Element spit out what was on his mind, he only shook his head, almost regretfully.

The Gamer really wanted to get inside Blackfire's head and find out what was making her tick. Why her hostility towards Starfire on her previous encounters with the Titans? Why her outrage over the incident in the park? And why was she trying to live up to the idea that she was inherently better than anyone else, while hiding it beneath the submissive attitude she was displaying now during her stay? With all the time he had spent with her since her arrival, Gamer had begun to see her as his… friend. And he wanted to know the answers to these questions, and maybe see if he could help her in some way.

Now having entered the mall, the two walked around it for a bit, Blackfire occasionally pointing at this or that and asking a few questions here and there about some store or item on display. After a while of this, the two eventually ended up at the food court and decided to eat lunch. Gamer ordered for the two of them and once it was ready, brought it back to the table that Blackfire was seated at. They ate in silence for a while, and then when they were done, Gamer decided to finally start asking Blackfire some long awaited questions.

"Hey Blackfire, I've noticed something since you've been here." Blackfire looked up from the table with perhaps faked interest in what he had noticed.

"What's that?" she asked. Gamer took a deep breath.

"Well, it seems to me that you don't really like your sister that much." he said. Blackfire gave a sharp laugh and rolled her eyes.

"Gee, was it that obvious?" she asked sarcastically. Gamer continued undaunted.

"I was just wondering why that is. Starfire loves you and looks up to you. I was just wondering what it is that makes you not love her back. She's your sister, and one of the most wonderful persons I know. What is it between you two?"

Blackfire listened to Gamer's question and just stared back at him. She considered telling him that it was none of his business, but he seemed to be looking at her like this was a very important question to him. And she had to admit that over the weeks that she had been here, Gamer had been her advocate with the other Titans, and had watched out for her. Even been friendly to her, despite knowing what she was like. She supposed that she owed him an explanation.

Blackfire sighed. "Alright." Gamer straightened up in his chair and leaned forward a little, wanting to hear every word she was about to say.

"It really started before Starfire was ever born. It started when I was born." Gamer raised an eyebrow at this and lifted up his sunglasses.

"When you were born?" he asked, confused. Blackfire nodded.

"Yes. You see, Starfire and I didn't always have the powers that we have now. Starbolts are not a natural Tamaranian power. Our strength, our ability to fly and to survive harsh conditions are all natural though. We get those powers because Tamaran is a very warm, sunny planet. The solar energies from our sun go directly into our bodies and allow us to harness that energy based on our emotions."

Gamer looked fascinated. "So, all that power that you and Starfire have comes from the sun? What happens during the night, or a cloudy day? I've seen Starfire use her powers even then."

Blackfire continued. "It doesn't matter. The sun is still sending solar energy to the planet. While the intake of it is lower than on a sunny day, those energies still get absorbed into our bodies. The reason why I have a problem with Starfire is because I was not born with those abilities. All of my powers, even ones that are natural for Tamaranians all came later."

Gamer's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

Blackfire nodded. "Yes. I was born deformed, you see. Deformed and handicapped. I'm the only Tamaranian with purple eyes. And I could not use the sun's energy to harness my strength, and I could not fly. From the day I was born, I was deemed unfit to rule Tamaran. So even though I was the princess and was treated like royalty, I would never be allowed to take the throne of our planet." She sighed, for a moment.

"Then Starfire came along. My parents had her so that they could have a normal child, one who could be their heir. Starfire was born perfect. At first, I adored her. I was almost two years older than her, and I loved having a little sister. But as time went on, I realized that although Starfire treated me like I was any other Tamaranian, everyone else always put her first before me. Because she was normal."

Gamer took this all in, beginning to see where the distrust and eventual hatred that Blackfire had for her sister had come from.

"Then, one day, the Citadel invaded Tamaran. There was no hope for us to defeat them, because they outnumbered us greatly. A truce was formed, and part of the bargain was that Starfire and I were sold to the Citadel as slaves."

"By the time of the war with the Citadel, I really did not like Starfire all that much. I began training in all forms of martial arts that I knew, so that even without regular Tamaranian powers, I would be a force to be reckoned with. I thought that maybe this would put me at an even level of respect with Starfire. It did not. Nobody saw my training as anything more than a foolish attempt at gaining normalcy.

"When the war started, it was clear that Tamaran would not survive. A peace treaty was made, and Starfire and I were handed over to the Citadel as prizes in exchange for peace. We had to be conditioned into proper slaves. Most likely, Starfire and I were going to be used as sex slaves. Makes sense, two pretty young girls, bound to be rather great prizes when we reached our teens and then adulthood. Surely some pedophilic Citadel general would love to have one of us in chains."

Listening to the bitterness in her voice as she spoke of these things, Gamer was unable to believe that Blackfire had not turned out even more vicious than she already was. Being ignored for being born handicapped while Starfire got everything she ever wanted, including love, then being sold as a possible sex slave to a conquering army to give her planet peace. It was awful!

"Starfire and I gave the Citadel more trouble than we were worth, so they sent us to the laboratories with their Psion scientists. There, the Psions tried to modify my body and Starfire's. They wanted to see just how much solar energy we could hold until our bodies exploded. Only it didn't work. The experiment backfired on them and made us stronger. It gave me the ability to utilize all those abilities that normal Tamaranians could do."

"For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to fly under my own power. To lift things a hundred times my own weight as if it was nothing. To use my combat training with my new powers and become one of the greatest fighters in this part of the galaxy. On top of that, Starfire and I gained new powers. We were able to use the solar radiation in our bodies to form our starbolts whenever we were filled with righteous fury."

"We used these powers to escape. Because of the trouble we had given the Citadel, they decided to ignore that the terms of the treaty were violated by our returning home. When we did return home, we found that our parents had had another child, to try to carry on the royal line. Our little brother, Wildfire."

"You have a brother?" Gamer asked, knowing that none of his research into Starfire's past had ever revealed a second sibling.

"Yes. I haven't seen him in years. You see, because Starfire and I were never expected to return, Wildfire was officially declared the heir to the thrown after our parents. It was an unusual case. Our planet is matriarchal. It is customary for the females to become Grand Ruler and then pick a male to be her mate and rule as King at her side."

Gamer grinned. "So the females are the stronger species on your world?"

Blackfire shook her head. "No, not really. Female and male Tamaranians are no different in strength of body or spirit. It's just that our most worshipped figure, X'hal, the Living Goddess, was of course female, and so it is tradition on my world for females to lead the royal family to follow her example."

"So anyway, Wildfire was to be the next Grand Ruler, and Starfire was placed in line after him. And even though I was the first daughter and now had the same abilities other Tamaranians had and more, I was still different. In both body and personality now. So I was placed last in line. Then, a few years ago, the Gordanians invaded Tamaran. Again, it was clear that we were outmatched by pure numbers. Wildfire was still only a little boy, so he could not lead if our parents were to die in the war. He was placed in a small space shuttle and sent away from the planet, in the hope to preserve the royal line."

"I saw this as the perfect way to finally get Starfire back for all she had taken from me. Since the deal had worked with the Citadel, there was no reason to think it wouldn't work for the Gordanians. I secretly conducted negotiations with them and got them to agree to cease their invasion. The price: Starfire was to become their slave. So they took her, and apparently planned to re-sell her to the Citadel. My parents became so heartbroken with both Starfire and Wildfire gone that they became ill, and eventually passed away. I guess that makes me partly responsible for their deaths, but considering that they never even gave me a chance, their _first child_, I don't really feel that guilty over it."

"That's why I hate Starfire. She was always seen as better, simply because she was born normal. And the worst thing of all, in a way, is that no matter what I did to her once my feelings for her became clear, no matter how mean or nasty I was to her, she would always forgive me and hope that we could have a regular sister relationship. It wasn't enough that she had to be perfect and get everything that could, that_should_ have been mine. No, she wanted to be my friend while she was at it. And that was what I refused to tolerate. I would not be pitied and befriended by the one person who was treated by everyone else like she was better than me!"

After hearing this, letting it sink in, Gamer reached a new understanding for the girl. Although she did not want pity, Gamer could not help but feel it for her. And also, something more; a desire to help her feel better about herself. Blackfire had been denied so much for so long because of something that was beyond her control, it was no wonder she had turned out the way she had. She had done many things that a bad life was no excuse for, but were there that many people on this very planet that had not done similar things, and still turned out ok if given a new chance at the life they had never had in their youth? Nobody had ever given Blackfire the benefit of the doubt, that was the problem. Maybe now, that someone finally understood her, maybe she could be led to a happier way of life. She was still a teen, so it certainly wasn't too late.

Not sure if she'd take it kindly or not, but wanting to try showing that he was sympathetic, Gamer dared to reach across the table and place his hand over Blackfire's. Blackfire looked at his hand, then looked up at him, her expression surprised and uncertain.

"Look, Blackfire, you've made some mistakes. We all have. It's still not too late for you to have the life you wanted. Just look at Terra. Like you, she didn't have any friends for a long time. Nobody liked her because she caused disasters. She even sided with the Titans' worst enemy and tried to kill them all, and nearly succeeded. And what happened? She redeemed herself and the Titans accepted her right back, and now she and Beast Boy are going steady. Look at Raven. She ended the world, and my brother is madly in love with her. Even Starfire herself. When she first landed on Earth, she was so riled up she nearly killed the Titans. And I don't think I have to point out where things stand between them and her now."

Blackfire looked down as she thought about this. "Yeah, but who would even give me a chance? Everyone on this planet already thinks of me as a criminal, and on a lot of other planets too. How would I start?"

Gamer smiled. "Well, for one, I am your friend. Ever since Robin assigned me to watch after you, I feel like I've gotten the chance to know you a little better than the others do. I know that you're tough on the outside, but I could also see that you were hiding something more vulnerable on the inside, and after everything you just told me, I now know what it is. And I know that you have the ability to be a good person. You just need to be set on the right path."

Blackfire frowned in skepticism. "And how would I do that?"

Gamer though about it. "Well, I'd say that a good place to start would be to clear up this whole thing with Starfire."

Blackfire barked a short, sarcastic laugh. "Oh yeah, that's a good idea. Twelve years of being a tyrant to her, and she'll actually be interested in letting bygones be bygones? I don't think so."

Gamer frowned at her. "Starfire wants to be friends with everyone she can. Including you. Probably especially you. She wants to have the sister relationship that you two never had. If you apologized to her, and were sincere about it, with the intent to make it up to her and be her older sister, I'm dead certain that she would forgive you and accept your offer."

Blackfire's expression softened some. "Really? You think she'd do that?"

Gamer nodded. "Absolutely. I told you she loves you and looks up to you. She doesn't hold what you've done against you and she is still hoping that you will become a good person. I know that you don't want pity, but Starfire feels sorry that you never got the attention she got. She didn't want anyone to treat you differently, and that's why she never treated you differently, because she could see your worth even if nobody else could. And frankly, so do I now. Starfire would support you on your search for a better life, and so would I. The others would listen to us, and would give you a chance. If Terra and Jinx can prove themselves to be good people after all, then so can you. And Starfire and I will be right there with you every minute."

Blackfire looked back at him. "Starfire really doesn't hate me for what I've done? You really think she'd forgive me and let me be her sister for real if I tried?" Gamer nodded. "And you'd stick with me if I tried to be better?" Again, Gamer nodded.

Blackfire settled back in her chair and sighed. Then she looked back down at Gamer's hand, which was still settled over her own. She turned her hand up and gently squeezed his.

"Thanks Gamer. I've never really had a friend before. It's nice to know that even I can have one." She sighed again. "I'll think about what you said. It'll be tough to change, because I kinda like me being the way I am. But I've lost what little I had gained because of it. I guess we'll see." she finished.

Gamer smiled and lowered his sunglasses. "We'll see."

Suddenly, Blackfire's eyes seemed to focus sharply on something behind Gamer. Curious, he turned around to see what she was looking at. When he saw what had caught her attention, he knew that there was about to be trouble. Just walking into the food court was that same blonde teenage girl who had picked on that other girl in the park the last week. The same two ditzy friends she'd had with her then were with her now.

"It's Daddy's-little-spoiled-necklace-loving-girl. And doesn't she just look so smug and special and pretty. And she's wearing her precious pendant necklace too. You know, maybe it's time she learned a bit of humility." Blackfire grinned menacingly and stood up. Gamer quickly got up too and moved in front of her.

"Blackfire, wait. Don't go causing trouble. We just talked about this."

Blackfire put a hand on his chest and moved him aside, not enough to hurt him, but with a strong enough force that he would not be able to fight against, and continued walking on towards the girl.

"I'm not going to hurt her or anything. Just teach her a few manners."

Gamer knew that this could get ugly. This was the first offensive action Blackfire was taking since she arrived on Earth and it could compromise her being allowed to stay here if she went too far. Gamer followed behind her, ready to intervene if it got out of control. He only prayed that Blackfire's old attitude would not surface in the confrontation that was about to come. If it did, she'd be an official enemy again, and he desperately did not want that to happen.

Blackfire stopped at the table the girls had sat down at and placed her hands on the back of the one empty chair.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you just a good looking bunch of well-to-do gals." she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm and smugness. The girls looked up at her, frowning. The blonde one, clearly the leader, looked Blackfire up and down. She looked like the Titan Starfire, but with different colored hair, and her clothes were green instead of purple. Must be a fan who wanted to look the same but take a different color scheme for fashion's sake.

"What do you want?" the girl replied in her better-than-you tone. Blackfire smiled at her, a smile like a crocodile closing in on an unsuspecting zebra drinking at a river. She eyed the sparkly pendant the girl wore.

"That's a nice necklace. Let me guess… your father gave it to you for being such a perfect little princess." she said.

The girl stood up, one hand touching the pendant, protectively. "You got something to say? If not, then I suggest you go before you get me really irritated." she said to Blackfire, her voice giving away her anger and anxiety over a possible fight.

Blackfire simply grinned again and reached out, grabbed the pendant, and ripped it off the girl's neck. The girl immediately grabbed at her own throat with one hand and lunged forward with the other, intending to snatch it back from Blackfire.

"You stupid-" but she didn't get the chance to add her intended swear onto the end of the sentence. Blackfire held the pendant out of her reach with one hand and gently pushed the girl in the chest with the other. The girl tumbled back into the chair she had been sitting in and it very nearly tipped her back onto the floor. The two other girls with her had stood up and were going to surround Blackfire in an attempt to help their leader get her pendant back, but upon seeing Blackfire push their friend down with almost no effort they quickly sat down again.

The Gamer grabbed Blackfire's shoulder and spun her around to face him.

"What do you think you are doing? Do you know what Robin will do when he finds-"

"Security!" the blonde girl was screaming. Blackfire, ignoring Gamer, turned around and looked down at the girl.

"It's no fun having someone take something important to you just because they think they're better than you, is it!" Blackfire hissed at her, enjoying tormenting the girl for being so stuck up the other day in the park.

The girl called again. "Security! Help, security, she stole my necklace!" A mall security guard that had been walking into the food court came right over and approached them. He moved up to Blackfire and held out his hand.

"Miss, I want you to hand that to me. Now." he said with authority. This triggered in Blackfire her long honed resistance to anyone who tried to pull authority on her. Closing her eyes and grinning, she grabbed the security guard by the front of his shirt, lifted him into the air and flung him across the room. He landed on a table occupied by a teenage couple, smearing their lunch across the table as his momentum slid him along the surface and onto the ground on the other side.

Turning to Gamer, Blackfire grabbed his arm and began pulling him along. "Come on, lets go!" she said to him. She then began to walk fast out of the food court and towards the exit, not wanting to deal with anymore security men. She knew she'd probably be in trouble for this, but that stuck up blonde back there needed to be taught some humility. And the security guard was just going to get in the way of that lesson. She brought up the pendant and placed it over her neck.

Gamer was following behind her, his game controller in his hand. He was unsure of what to do. He knew he should stop Blackfire and make her take the pendant back, but he didn't want to force her into doing anything and he was trying to figure out how to keep Robin from coming down on her when he found out about it. So, at a loss as to what to do, Gamer just followed along behind her.

As they neared the exit to the mall, two more security men walked in front of them. They put their hands up and ordered Blackfire to stop. Now getting annoyed that these guys kept getting in her way, and over such a little thing, she decided to show them just who they were messing with. She walked up to them and grabbed them both by the front of their uniforms. They thrashed about in the air, trying to break her grip. Blackfire laughed at them and then flung them both right through the glass front doors of the mall.

People near the doors inside and outside the mall screamed as the security guards smashed through the glass and then slid along the concrete ground outside. The guards slowly rolled over onto their stomachs and began to push themselves up. They were mostly ok.

Gamer watched with his mouth hanging open, and onlookers were wondering who this girl was and why one of the Teen Titans was just standing there and not doing anything about it. For the first time, Gamer was at a complete loss. Now it was no longer a matter of trying to convince the others that Blackfire had just acted up a little. She had officially crossed the line now. There would be no talking the other Titans into going easy on her. But his promise to her and himself that he would help her move away from the kind of behavior she was showing now would not allow him to take action against her.

As it unfortunately turned out, a group of police squad cars were currently driving through the parking area near that entrance of the mall, on their way to an advertising campaign to get the Jump City public more involved with their police enforcers, for better community relations.

Driving past the entrance, the officers in the squad cars saw the mall security guards on the concrete outside the mall doors, glass scattered everywhere, and one of the new Titan members standing behind a girl who was clearly the cause of the commotion.

All of the officers inside got out of their cars and drew their weapons, pointing them at Blackfire.

"Miss," one of the officers called out, " keep your hands in the air where we can see them!"

Gamer immediately tensed up. They were pointing guns at Blackfire! True, they were going to need them if they intended to stop her, but for some reason, the thought that they were aiming deadly force at her just… irked him.

Blackfire was fully back into her old mode. She was being challenged by inferior creatures who wanted to interfere with her fun. Although she had meant what she said to Gamer about being willing to try turning her behavior around, she was going on pure habit now.

She lifted her hand and fired a purple-hued starbolt at the closest squad car. The cops all ducked and dodged out of the way as it struck the front of the vehicle and blasted it onto its side, its front end mangled and melted from the bolt.

That did it, Gamer knew. Blackfire had attacked them with deadly force; the cops were going to use deadly force against Blackfire now. Quickly, Gamer pulled out his Nintendo 64 controller and began pressing buttons and rotating the thumbstick.

The police were just getting to their feet as Blackfire came down hard on the top of another police car, her booted feed mashing its ceiling down and crushing the center of the car like an aluminum can. She seemed to gracefully hop off of the crushed car and effortlessly picked up another one. Wielding it over her head, she walked over to the last police car and brought the one in her hands down upon it, smashing its hood and top with the one she held.

The eight officers and two mall security men, now on their feet, all drew their weapons. Most carried the standard 9mm semi-automatic pistols or .38 revolvers, but one officer was actually wielding a shotgun. They all aimed their weapons at the super powered alien girl smashing their squad cars up. Then there was a bright flash of light in the corner of their eyes, and a moment later, something bright and shiny whipped in front of all of them quicker than the eye could follow. They paused for a moment, then the barrels of each of their guns simply fell off, having been cut cleanly. All of them, down the row, watched the tips of their guns simply break off and hit the ground. They stared at their now useless weapons for a moment, before turning around to see what had caused this. And there they saw Gamer's current form.

He was as a man now, with black hair, striped with gray at the sides and at the very front. He still wore a pair of sunglasses, though they were no longer held to his head by a band. He wore a large black vest and gray pants; an outfit clearly made for fighting in the style of martial arts. A large collar attached to the vest was round his neck, covering most of his head below his nose, but allowing a little bit of his lower face to be seen, showing beard stubble. He wore a red robe-like garment that was held on only by his right arm; his left arm was out of the sleeve. His right hand was covered in a black glove, and was held up over his shoulder… where the cops could see a sword larger than any they could imagine. While none of them knew the word, they were looking upon a sword that was apparently a nodachi, although this character called it a katana. Gamer was in the form of Auron, one of the characters from _Final Fantasy X_.

"You shouldn't aim a gun at a lady." Auron said to them, reaching up and scratching his chin thoughtfully. Man of the cops just dropped their ruined weapons and raised their hands. Gamer had moved by all of them at an extremely fast pace, cut through their weapons, and taken up stance where he was now in a second's time. They didn't know what had gotten into the Titan, but they weren't about to challenge him in the form of this man who was clearly a fighter and held a sword as long as a person was tall. No way.

Seeing that Gamer had just saved her the trouble of needing to dodge any bullets, Blackfire ceased smashing the cars together and turned to face him, still holding the battered police car above her head.

"Thanks Gamer." she said to him. She then began to rise into the air, intending to throw the car a little ways and see how big a bang it made.

"Blackfire, stop this now! You've done enough! After that talk we just had…" he pleaded with her, still confused by the situation or what he should do.

"Hey, it's not my fault that this got out of hand." she called down to him. "I just wanted to teach that stuck-up witch a lesson. These guys are the ones who all made a big deal out of it."

But it was her fault. Didn't she realize that? The moment stuff started happening, she's slipped right back into her old ways, as if everything they had just talked about five minutes ago meant nothing. She was betraying his trust and the friendship he was trying to build with her, and she didn't even realize that.

Out of the corner of Auron's eye, Gamer saw one of the cops reaching down and grabbing something from beneath his pant leg. Apparently, seeing that Gamer's attention was on Blackfire, the officer was taking the time to draw a second weapon that he had strapped to his let. Straightening up, the cop held a revolver in his hand and began to aim it at Blackfire in the air.

Instantly, without thinking, Gamer reacted, knowing only that he did not want Blackfire to get shot and nothing else. With the flat of Auron's enormous sword (what was it with Gamer and transforming into characters that wielded huge swords?), Gamer smacked the gun from the cop's hand and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, using Auron's well honed strength to lift the man off the ground by an inch or two.

"Don't try to shoot her again!" he said to the man with a dangerous tone in his voice to show that he meant business. The cop stared back at him in fear, sweating bullets. Then the man's eyes darted to the side, looking at something behind Auron, a flicker of hope appearing in his eyes. Gamer heard the screech of tires and then Robin's voice.

"Drop him Gamer! Now! That's an order!"

Gamer turned around and saw his leader and the rest of his team. Robin's staff was out, Beast Boy was a gorilla, Terra and Starfire's eyes were glowing their respective colors, Cyborg had his sonic cannon charged up, Element allowed his body to form into a humanoid version of the hard asphalt he was standing on, and Raven just stood there motionless. They'd gotten here rather quick, relative to the time that this whole mess had started. The Teen Titans, showing up in record time, as always.

Sighing, knowing that he was in for one real mess of a talking-to, Gamer gently set the policeman back on his feet. With mental command, Gamer disengaged his transformation and was enveloped in his signature white light, only to reemerge a moment later, his game controller now held where he had once held Auron's sword. He saw Robin look up into the air.

"Put the car down gently Blackfire and surrender yourself! You've crossed the line, as I knew you eventually would, and now you are going to face the consequences!" he shouted to her.

Blackfire actually seemed a bit taken aback at this, now realizing at last just what she was doing. She had no place to go and her being allowed to remain on earth and with the Titans was based solely on her behaving herself and she had just gone and screwed that up. Not only that, she had gotten Gamer, her self-confessed only friend, in trouble with his team. Realizing that continuing on with her old habits and challenging Robin and the others would only cause Gamer and herself more trouble, Blackfire backed down. She lowered herself to the ground and set the car down. She slowly moved over next to the Gamer, trying to look as least threatening as possible so that they would not attack.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" she whispered to Gamer. He leaned a little towards her. "You think?" he whispered back.

-----

Back at the tower, Gamer, more than Blackfire, was getting chewed out. The Titans had all expected Blackfire to be her true self eventually; that had certainly come as no surprise. What had come as a surprise was that they would find the Gamer right there with her, actually aiding her in her crimes of theft, destruction of property and resisting arrest. Robin, Starfire and Element were the most disappointed in Gamer, as they were the three closest to him, although Robin did most of the talking.

The Titans were giving Gamer this verbal thrashing in the kitchen area. Blackfire sat on the couch obediently, guarded by Terra and Starfire, watching and listening to Gamer's being read the riot act.

"I just can't believe that you were helping her! You're supposed to be a Titan; a hero, a protector, one of us! And you actually helped that criminal over there?! I want you to explain to me _why_!" Robin demanded.

Gamer sighed. He had explained it already several times, but he knew he was going to have to be repeating himself until it sank into their heads.

"I wasn't really 'aiding' her in the crime. I was just… caught off guard when she started doing it. I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't ready for it. And the only reason why I fought back against the police was because they were going to shoot at her. I didn't want them to do that. I wasn't going to just let her get away with it, but I hadn't thought of a way to get her to stop yet." he said.

A vein throbbed in Robin's forehead. "You couldn't think of a way to stop her?! You should have used your powers and changed into some big, tough videogame monster and knocked her out, that's what you should have done!" Robin nearly screamed. If he'd been any angrier, you would have been able to see steam rising from his head.

"Yeah man!" Cyborg cut in with his input. "We've been trusting you for weeks with watching over her and you've done a fine job so far. But the day she actually starts to do the very thing that we wanted her to be watched for, and suddenly you don't know what to do and are unreliable? Man, either you do your job, or you don't!" Cyborg yelled, not quite as angry as Robin but just as frustrated at Gamer's lack of smarts on where his priorities should lie.

"Guys, I know you don't really like her, but I've been spending time with her and I know that she's not as bad as she's acted in the past. She's my friend now. I didn't want to do anything to hurt her. Didn't you all hesitate to fight Robin or Terra when they were working for Slade?" he asked, trying to get them to see where he was coming from.

"It wasn't the same thing." Raven said, the only one who sounded calm, but who was clearly just as upset with her friend as the others were. "They were actually part of our team before they began doing things for Slade. They already had our trust, and then were appearing to break it. Blackfire did not have our trust. Even when she was first here, before we learned she was a criminal, we didn't have the same connection with her that we have with each other. And she has done nothing to earn that trust since then." It was a long speech for Raven, but it carried a heavy point.

Starfire chose this moment to enter her opinion into the discussion. "Gamer, I am delighted that my sister has been able to make a friend in you. I truly am. But Blackfire has made it clear that she does not wish to be like us. I had been hoping that she would continue to show the good behavior during her time here, but today she has proven both you and I wrong and that she still has not changed. I am sorry, but she is not worth you forcing us to question our trust in you, which is what you have done." she said sadly, looking over at her sister, then lowering her head. She was trying to hold back tears that one of her closest friends was now the target of her other friends' anger, and had actually caused her and all of them to question their faith in him, if only for a moment.

"She's right." Element said. "Your duty was to stop her if she got out of hand. She did, and by hesitating to act on your duty, you put those men's lives at risk, and actually questioned your loyalty to us." he told his brother.

Gamer frowned. "I never questioned my loyalty to you guys." he said indignantly.

Robin crossed his arms. "In helping one of our enemies in the act of committing a crime, for whatever reason, when you should have been stopping her, you questioned whether you should do what you knew we would want you to do or if you should do what _you_ wanted to do. I'd call that questioning your loyalty to us." he huffed.

"But I didn't-" Gamer began, desperately wanting them to understand.

"Dude, you attacked a cop." Beast Boy said plainly, a frown upon his green face.

"You let her destroy the police cars. What if they'd exploded and someone got hurt, or even killed?" Terra called over, from where she was helping to guard Blackfire.

"You guys don't understand!" Gamer yelled, now more desperate than ever to make them understand that he just couldn't bring himself to hurt Blackfire, anymore than he'd hurt one of them. "You don't get it! She-" he began, not sure what the rest was going to be, but going to at least try to explain how she deserved another chance to change her ways. But the girl in question didn't let him get that far.

"Gamer enough. I appreciate you standing up for me, but it's not going to work." Blackfire stood up and looked at the Gamer, at all the Titans.

"You've been good to me while I was here. Especially you Gamer. And I just went and threw all that away today. I know you believe that I can be turned around and made into one of the good guys, Gamer. You might even have examples of others who have, like Terra here, or your friend Jinx. But I'm different than them. The way I am goes deeper than that, and I don't think I can change. And if what happened today isn't a hint that I'm right, then I don't know what is." She sighed and looked to the floor.

"Thank you for the chance at least, but I don't want to get Gamer in anymore trouble. You shouldn't be mad at him anyway. Only at me. He tried to help me, even as I was causing problems. That's what makes him worthy of being a Titan, and your friend. Go easy on him. He had enough heart to care at least." She looked up again at them.

"I won't cause you anymore problems. I'll leave now." she said, and spun on her heels and headed for the door to the hallway, her ultimate destination being the roof.

"Blackfire, wait!" Gamer called, pushing past the others and following her. The other Titans followed him.

By the time they made it onto the roof, Blackfire was already in the air, flying away towards the northern part of the city and the empty wilderness beyond.

"Blackfire! Come back!" Gamer called to her. She turned around in the air and waved her hand to him.

"Maybe I'll see you again someday, Gamer! But probably not! Don't worry about me! There are a lot of others who deserve to be called your friend than me! Most of them are right there next to you!" And with that, she turned in the air once more and flew out of earshot.

Gamer lowered his head and sighed.

"Well, it looks like she stuck up for you. Guess she has some sense of loyalty at least." Robin said from behind him.

Gamer turned around to face his friends. "You guys don't know her, ok." he said to them plainly. "You might have some idea Starfire, but even you don't know the whole story."

Cyborg cocked an eyebrow. "What? You gonna tell me that you suddenly know all about her and that you can trust her just because she told you some sob story or something?" the metal Titan asked, incredulously.

"You don't know what kind of life she's had. What she was forced to grow up with." he said, becoming angry with them for not believing him, as if his word being good for all the months they've known him meant nothing now.

Raven answered him calmly. "Gamer, except for you, Element and myself, everyone else here is an orphan. The others here all saw their parents die. I barely even knew my mother and my father is the ultimate evil. And none of us turned out like Blackfire. Her past has no bearing on her behavior in the present."

But she was wrong. Gamer knew she was. She didn't know what motivated Blackfire. How what drove her was something personal to her.

"You guys don't get it. She's my friend. _I_ know her. _I_ know what happened in her life to cause her to be this way, and I know that she can be changed. And I intend to try." With that, he turned around and began walking to the edge of the roof. The other Titans were startled.

"Gamer, what are you doing?" Robin demanded. Gamer looked back over his shoulder at them for a moment.

"I'm going after her Robin. I'm quitting the team temporarily. I don't know when I'll be back. After I have a good long talk with her alone I guess, or maybe even longer. I will be back. I just hope you don't reject me when I do come back, because of this." he said to them.

Starfire gasped. "Gamer, we do not wish you to leave! Please reconsider!" she begged. Gamer shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Starfire. But your sister can change, and I know that I can help her. And she's my friend now, so I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror knowing that I didn't try to help her, even at my own expense. I have to do this." he said with finality. But Element wasn't going to let his brother justify it so simply.

"Gamer, I'm not going to let you throw your life dream away and leave the Titans just because you like her." he said. The other Titans looked at him, just a small hint of surprise on their faces, but not much, because deep down, they all agreed exactly with what Element had just said.

Gamer turned around and faced his brother, a stunned look upon his face. The all took turns telling him reasons why Blackfire was not likely to change anytime soon, if she could even change at all, and that he'd be throwing away what he'd waited two years for, to join the Titans with this action he was planning to take, but Gamer didn't hear any of them. He was focused on what Element had just said.

"_Gamer, I'm not going to let you throw your life dream away and leave the Titans just because you like her. You like her. You like her. Like her. Like her. Like her-"_

It echoed in his mind. Because he liked her? No, it wasn't like that. But at the same time, he knew it was exactly that. He had been suppressing it the whole time, because of who she was he guessed, but it was true. He _did_ like Blackfire. He thought she was beautiful, and smart and tragic, and possessed of a capacity to do great things and give great kindness, deep down, down where no one else saw it. But he saw it. The time he had spent with her while she had been mellow and subdued had allowed him to see it. And he had grown attracted and fond of her.

So that was it then. He wasn't doing this just because he was her friend and because he wanted to help her; he was doing it because he had feelings for her and he wanted her to be like how he saw she was capable of being… and then to be with her once she was that person.

"It doesn't matter." he said aloud, interrupting them all. He raised his head and looked them all in the eye, a new determination within him now that he had admitted the truth to himself.

"You can all say what you want about her and about me, but I can see what she can be like if given the chance. I'm going to help her become that person. I'm going after her. I'll be back when I can." he said, then turned around again.

Gamer," Robin said to his teammate. "She not worth it."

Gamer's shoulders hunched and his muscles tensed. "Yes she is!" he hissed out between his teeth, now feeling really offended when they said those things about the girl he had a soft spot for. "Stop saying that. She is worth it, or I wouldn't be doing this."

He heard someone walking up to him and felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Gamer, Cody," Element began, calling him first by his hero name, then his true name. "She's your enemy, not your friend." he said, trying to sound as direct, yet sympathetic as he could.

Gamer spun around, knocking his brother's hand from his shoulder and punched Element in the jaw. Element staggered back, his hand rubbing where Gamer had hit, his masked eyes wide with shock. The other Titans were equally shocked, and Raven quickly moved over to her boyfriend to see if he was ok.

Gamer glared at his brother. "I never thought _you_ would actually side against me on something that was this important to me." he said, in a low voice, full of anger and betrayal.

Gamer then turned around, grabbed his controller, did his thing, and morphed into one of the demon birds from _Silent Hill_ and began to quickly fly off in the direction that Blackfire had been heading.

Raven healed the bruise on Element's jaw, as Element and the other Titans, stunned to silence, watched as their troubled friend flew away from them, pursuing what all of them truly believed to be a lost cause.

-----

Blackfire had a feeling he'd follow her, so she had landed on the roof of a small building at the edge of town to wait for him. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a hideous looking bird as big as she was dropped down and with a flash of white, turned into the handsome and caring boy that was the Gamer.

Gamer's eyebrows shot up over his sunglasses. "You waited for me?"

Blackfire shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you cared enough to come after me, so I decided to wait and see."

Gamer walked towards her. "Of course I care enough." he said, smiling at her.

Blackfire looked down for a moment, actually saddened that he had chosen to leave everything because of her. "Thank you. You didn't have to you know. But it means a lot to me that you actually did it." she said, unable to look him in the eye.

Suddenly, she felt arms around her and realized that Gamer was hugging her. After her initial surprise, she gently hugged back, knowing that she owed him this for his kindness to her since she had landed back on this planet. They stepped back and looked each other in the eye.

"Blackfire, I didn't want to become a hero just for the fun or the glory. I wanted to do it because I actually wanted to make a real difference in someone's life. I've loved my life, and I want to make someone else who doesn't feel the same way also love it the way I do. You are like that, Blackfire. You don't know where you're going or what you were meant to do, and you thought that if you took enough from the world, you'd feel satisfied, but you don't. I want to help you feel about your own life the way I feel about mine. You're my friend, and giving up my life for a little while to help you get on with yours is worth the effort." he said, trying to seem as thoughtful and caring as he could without seeming corny, and without coming right out and telling her of his crush on her.

Blackfire just stared back at him for a moment or two, a small smile finally forming on her lips. She leaned and kissed him on the cheek then. Gamer was stunned into motionlessness, his mouth open, his face blushing deep red.

Blackfire continued to smile at him. "Thank you for putting so much faith in me. You're the only one that doesn't think it's misplaced, even between the two of us, but thank you anyway. I'll try to be the kind of person you think I can be. I won't promise that I will, because I don't think that I can. But I will promise you that I will try. I'll try as hard as I can, for you."

Gamer finally regained his composure, his hand going to his cheek for a moment, unable to believe that she had actually kissed him. Then he coughed and cleared his throat, his blush going away little by little.

"Come one, lets get out of here." he said to her. Blackfire smiled and nodded. She floated into the air, grabbed his hand and pulled him up, flying with his hand held in hers, her grip too strong for him to slip through and fall. Not that he felt he would; he had complete confidence in her to carry him along without letting him fall.

"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked him, realizing that she'd had no real destination in mind and that he hadn't mentioned one either.

"Turn east and keep going until I see some familiar landmarks." he said.

"Familiar?" she asked him, curious.

"Yes." he said, nodding. "We're going to fly all the way back to my home."

* * *

After nearly a year of procrastinating and my attention getting away from me here and there, I am finally back at this fic. I am sooooooooo sorry to those of you who have waited this whole year to see this story continue, but I promised you that I would not abandon it and I have not. I am now finally back in full fic writing mode, and since this story only has four more chapters to go, I intend to get right to them once this is posted. Well, that's not true, I am going away to see my girlfriend for three days after posting this, but once I come back, I am getting back down to business and continuing this story. I intend to finish it by March 23rd, 2008… the two year anniversary of this story's beginning. I just hope that those of you who have stuck with me through the first nine chapters haven't moved on to other interests yet during the delay of the tenth and the super delay of this, the eleventh. The next three months will see the return and completion of this story, I promise you.

Next chapter, with the Gamer having left them, the Teen Titans don't know what to do next and are all feeling kinda low. Gamer and Blackfire fly to Piedmont Colorado, hometown of Element and the Gamer. There, Blackfire meets Gamer's parents and Gamer fills his folks in on the details of his time in Jump City and the things that have happened in his and Element's lives. Meanwhile, Gizmo has finally completed his secret task for Slade, and now the Titans' greatest enemy is at last ready to put his newest plan into action. The ball is about to start rolling downhill and it won't be stopping until the end. It all happens in Element and the Gamer chapter 12: Going home. See you then!


	12. Going home

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Since I don't know who's still following this story from when it first started, mainly due to my lack of updating for almost a year, I'm just going to say that thanks go out to everyone who ever gave this fic their blessing. Thank you for appreciating this, my second fic, and giving me the drive to keep going this far, albeit a little late.

Disclaimer: The Gamer does not turn into any game characters in this chapter. Teen Titans does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter 12: Going home

It was early the next morning, and none of the Titans had gotten any more than a light sleep. It was the same kind of morning that had occurred when Terra had betrayed the team, and again after she'd been frozen in stone. It was the feeling of one of their own being lost.

Robin entered the common room, having always been one to get up early anyway. He usually was the first one awake, but not this morning. As he entered, he saw Element standing in front of the main windows, staring out at the city, or perhaps the sky. Robin could not remember seeing Element by himself since he and Raven had gotten together. The same was true for Raven, for that matter. And, since he had rarely ever talked with Element one on one, Robin figured now was the right time to do so. After all, the guy's twin brother had just left town. That had to affect a guy in a serious way.

"Hey Element." he said, trying to sound like someone he could talk to; not overly anxious, but paying attention to anything the other boy might say.

"Hi Robin" Element acknowledged his leader. He did not look away from the windows or make any other motion.

"Where's Raven." Robin asked him.

"She's still sleeping. She was up most of the night trying to help me feel better. Talking, hugging, using her powers to subdue my emotions. But even absorbing her energy and entering the union didn't help." he informed Robin. Robin stood next to him, staring out the window himself.

"Then I don't suppose there's anything I can do to help. If Raven couldn't make you feel better, then I don't have any hope." he said, seeing if a little reverse psychology would work. It did, to a degree.

"Probably not. I don't think anyone can help with this. It's not because he left, really. I mean, I'm sad about that, and I'm worried about him. Gamer and I have only ever been separated a few times in our lives, and never more than three days. It doesn't feel right not having him around. But Gamer is doing what he feels he has to do. He became a hero to find his purpose, just like me, and apparently he now believes that that purpose has something to do with helping Blackfire. I respect him for that." Here, Element paused and sighed. He reached his hand up and felt the side of his face.

"What's got me down is that Gamer hit me. He's never hit me before in anger, and I've never done it to him. Oh, we've fought a few times, especially when we were younger. Boy, did we have some rough scuffles. But never out of real anger or resentment. Gamer actually felt like I was betraying him by not agreeing with his decision to stick with Blackfire. I can understand why he felt that way. It's not true, but that's what he felt and I really can understand. But still, we've never hit each other over something so personal before. That's the shock." Element wasn't used to speaking for such a long time, and fell quiet again.

Robin listened to all this, nodding at the end. "I have to admit, Gamer's shown some real guts in choosing Blackfire over us and feeling that he's doing it because he really can help her. To tell you the truth, I hope that he turns out to be right and that we were wrong. Not just so that he can come back, but so that he can forgive us for not believing in him after he's clearly committed himself to this."

"We all hope for Gamer's forgiveness." they heard Starfire say. Turning around, Robin and Element realized that they'd been joined by the other Titans. So caught up were they in their talk of their AWOL friend, neither of the boys had paid much attention to the sound of footsteps. Of course, to give them credit, the other Titans had not wanted to interrupt the discussion, so they had been quiet on their approach.

Starfire appeared to be near-tears again. She had been crying most of last night over Gamer's departure from the team. With him having become her closest friend after Robin became her official boyfriend, Starfire felt that a part of her life had just been scooped up and carried off. The other Titans were holding their composure better, but they all looked more down than they had been in a long time.

"We all think that Gamer might be making a mistake doing this, but we also hope that we'll be wrong in the end and that he'll come back soon." Cyborg said in his big-brother tone.

"Yeah, Beast Boy was right about me all along. I'd say things have turned out alright on that one. Who's to say the same won't be true for Gamer and Blackfire?" Terra said, in spite of herself. Beast Boy smiled at her and took her hand in his.

"If only people would listen to me more often. We'd all be better off." he said with a little chuckle.

"Better off deaf" Raven said in response, earning a grumble from Beast Boy and a giggle from Terra. Turning back to Element and Robin, she continued.

"The point is, Gamer believes he can turn Blackfire into a better person and he has shown that he's willing to go to almost any length to accomplish it, even leaving us. We must honor his decision. It is no different than when Robin became Red X to find Slade, or when Starfire resigned herself to getting married in order to save her world. Or even when I chose to resist my destiny as Trigon's portal." She frowned a little sadly at this last part, then her face went neutral again.

"With all that has happened to each one of us, with all the sacrifices we were prepared to make for what we felt was the right cause, who are we to say that what Gamer did is a mistake? Who are we to say he has made the wrong decision?"

All the Titans nodded in agreement, now severely wishing that they'd put more faith in Gamer. Maybe then, Blackfire wouldn't have left and Gamer wouldn't have felt compelled to follow her. After thinking about it for a few more minutes, Robin looked at Element.

"Where do you think they went?" he asked.

Element turned around again to look out the window. Raven moved up next to him and stood close, her shoulder touching his.

"Where they'll actually go, who can say? But if Gamer caught up to her, knowing him like I do, there's only one place he'd have in mind as a start."

"Where's that?" Beast Boy asked.

Continuing to look forward, Element reached over to take Raven's hand, which she immediately let him do, and then the molecular-morphing Titan said a single word.

"Home."

-----

There it was. It just came into Gamer's view, on the horizon. Piedmont Colorado, his home town. It was the first time he'd seen it in several months, since leaving it to go to Jump City with Element to join the Titans. He felt a little ball of excitement form in his stomach.

Gamer was being held in the air by Blackfire, who was holding him by his sides, gently but firmly. Gamer had told her that he wanted to return to his home town and that they'd decide what to do and where to go after that, so she had flown him towards Colorado the rest of yesterday and all of today. They had stopped at a small motel they had seen after the sun went down yesterday. The owner of it had recognized Gamer as one of Earth's many superheroes, and had allowed their one night stay to be for free. He had probably mistaken Blackfire for Starfire as well, now that she thought about it.

She could feel the Gamer tense up in her hands. He was probably excited to see his old home, but probably nervous as well. He had told her how he and his brother had left their home because the people in the neighborhood had begun to fear them and what they were capable of, after they got their powers. He was probably worried that his arrival back in town would cause some trouble.

As the town drew near, Gamer beheld all of the familiar sites. The elementary and junior high schools he and Element had attended. The public park, the library, the water towers, the canal, all the old familiar places. He also looked off to the patch of forest where the well that he and Element had found nearly a year ago was located; the one that they had tossed coins into and made wishes on, only to receive their powers from it the very next morning.

"So, where are we going?" Blackfire asked him. Gamer looked around, trying to spot his old neighborhood and his house. After a moment, he found it.

"Right there. Take us down." he said. Blackfire began to lower to the ground, and set the Gamer on his feet in front of a single story house that was painted dark brown and white. Two vehicles were in the driveway; a green Chevy blazer and a white Dodge truck. The front lawn was one that was filled with rocks instead of grass, and two relatively old and dying trees grew in it, surrounded by younger bushes. A brick path led up from the sidewalk to the front door.

"Wait here for a minute." Gamer said to her, before walking up the brick path to the door. Gamer stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, then rang the bell.

After a minute, the door opened and a man stood in the doorway, looking at him. He was a man of about forty, slightly balding, but this was unnoticeable as he was wearing a black baseball cap. He wore a plain white shirt, blue jeans and brown work boots. He had a thin mustache on his upper lip.

The man stood there and stared at Gamer for a moment, a frown on his face. He clearly thought the boy was familiar and was certain he should know him, but was a little confused. The boy had on a red spandex uniform and his eyes were hidden beneath a pair of sunglasses. Then the man's eyes focused on the writing on his uniform. _**The Gamer**_. Suddenly, recognition dawned and his eyes darted to Gamer's face.

"Cody?" he asked. Gamer nodded and lifted up his sunglasses.

"Yeah, Dad, it's me." he said, smiling. Gamer's father stared back at him for just a moment, before turning around and yelling back into the house.

"Tiffany! Come here! It's Cody! He's back!" He then turned back around to stare at his son. There came the sound of hurried footsteps and then a woman, easily a foot shorter than her husband with straight brown hair that reach to her shoulders, stepped around him. Her eyes widened upon the site of Gamer.

"Cody!" she squealed and rushed toward him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him. Gamer's father also stepped forward and hugged him as well, and Gamer hugged his parents back as well as he could.

Blackfire watched as Darren and Tiffany Berenson hugged their son, a small smile playing at her lips, a bit of jealousy in her heart. Her parents had not greeted her quite so affectionately when she and Starfire had escaped from the Citadel.

After a moment, the adults released their son, though Mrs. Berenson kept her hands on his shoulders. They looked around, puzzlement plainly expressed on their faces.

"Where's Kyle?" Darren asked.

"Uh, he's still in Jump City, with the Titans. I came here without him." Gamer told him. Tiffany looked shocked.

"You came here alone?" she asked, her voice raised to a level of concern. Gamer tilted his head.

"Well… not exactly alone." he said, tilting his head again, this time clearly behind him, in Blackfire's direction. The two older Berensons looked behind their son, down to the beginning of the brick path that led up from the sidewalk. They saw Blackfire standing there, clearly looking a bit out of place and uncomfortable. Tiffany Berenson tilted her own head towards Blackfire, keeping her hands on her son's shoulders.

"Is she… one of them? That girl we've seen on the TV, flying?" she asked, clearly meaning Starfire. Gamer shook his head.

"No, that was Starfire. This is actually her sister, Blackfire. She's my friend too." he then turned to Blackfire and motioned with his hand for her to come up. "Come on." he said to her. Hesitant at first, Blackfire gulped and walked up to stand next to the Gamer. "Blackfire, this is my father, Darren Berenson, and my mother, Tiffany." he introduced them to her. Darren stuck out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss." he said to her. Blackfire gently shook his hand, not applying any pressure so as not to crush it. Gamer's mother also put out her hand and shook Blackfire's.

"Yes, it's nice to meet a friend of Cody's." she said, smiling, although inside she'd have preferred her other son to be present than this stranger, but any friend of either of her loner sons was welcome.

"Mom, could you please refer to me as the Gamer when we've got company. It is my formal title now, you know." Gamer said in an almost whiny voice, blushing and a bit embarrassed that he was being referred to by his real name by his mother, like he was still a little kid… and in front of Blackfire no less. His mother merely scoffed at his request.

"Oh, you might be called that by the rest of the world, but you're still my little boy, Cody. But if you really want, then fine. Wouldn't want you to look like a mama's boy in front of your pretty friend here." she said. Gamer blushed more, and Blackfire did a little too.

"Say," Darren began. "Your mother was just about ready to make dinner; her homemade fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. Why don't you stay a while and eat with us and you can tell us how things are going with you over in Jump City. And your friend is welcome to join us too of course." he added, nodding at Blackfire.

Gamer's mouth began to water at the thought of one of his mother's specialty meals. No chain restaurant could possibly outdo his mother's fried chicken. As wonderful as Cyborg's cooking was, nothing really beat a mother's touch to a meal. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'll stay. It's been too long since I've had your chicken mom." he turned to Blackfire. "You want some too, Blackfire?" Still a little uncomfortable about actually socializing with a friend's parents rather than just taking what she wanted as she had done in the past, Blackfire still seemed nervous and fidgety.

"Um, yes, sure. That sounds great. Thank you." she said to the two adults. Tiffany smiled politely.

"Well great. Come on in you two. I'll make the food, we can all sit down and you can tell us what you and Kyle- excuse me, you and Element have been up to, _Gamer_." she said, trying to follow through with calling them by their superhero names.

-----

The gang of hoodlums was being rounded up. The group of teenage boys and the few girls with them had been causing quite a ruckus in the residential district of town, a lot of them having been doing underage drinking and letting their partying get out of control. The police and the Titans had been called in to handle them, as many of them had bad attitudes anyway and had basically started a riot among the youth of the neighborhood. Cars had been hijacked and bashed in, bricks thrown through windows, trash cans set on fire, and just a lot of really immature behavior.

Arrests had been made and some serious groundings were going to be in store for these kids when their parents finally bailed them out of jail. At least for those who had committed lesser offenses and would not face real prosecution. A few of the troublemakers had been actual gangsters with switchblades, chains and clubs and had actually assaulted the police when they arrived. That's when the Titans had been called in.

Raven had trapped a few in a dumpster with her powers. Starfire had hung a few from streetlights, so they weren't going anywhere. Cyborg had shrugged off one punk who'd tried to stab him with a knife, which was just stupid since he was made of metal. Cyborg had then plucked the knife from the startled kid's hand and crushed it, then pushed him down on his butt with a "booyah" thrown in for good measure to show who was boss. The kid had promptly surrendered. Terra had collapse the ground under a group of troublemakers, forming a pit that they could not climb out of. Beast Boy had turned into an anaconda and wrapped around three guys who'd tried to wrap their chains around him and was holding them there until the police got to them. Robin had dealt with a particularly troublesome gang banger with a few well placed jabs from his bo staff. Lets just say that particular punk would be walking funny for a few days.

"Alright team, lets wait until the authorities get the arrest vans in here and we'll hand these guys over to them." Robin said, placing cuffs on his fallen opponent.

Hearing a lot of shouting and swearing, Robin looked over to see Element holding a kid who was down on his knees by the collar. The guy had tried to pick a fist fight with Element, so drunk was he that he didn't realize he was one of the Teen Titans. Element had simply turned into the smoke from one of the trashcan fires and the guy had spent nearly three minutes trying to punch the humanoid cloud of smoke standing in front of him, until he'd literally dizzied himself and simply fell to his knees.

Element was now back to normal, but the guy had not shut up since they had arrived. He kept shouting at Element to let him go and how he was gonna bust him up and how nobody told him what to do and yadda yadda yadda. The more he ranted on, the deeper the frown on Element's face grew until finally he'd had enough. Standing on the concrete sidewalk, Element allowed his fist to form to solid concrete and punched the guy right in the jaw. Not too hard to really hurt him, but it knocked him out right on the spot.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "Little rough there, don't you think Element?" he asked. Element looked at him.

"If you had to put up with three minutes of this guy's garbage you'd have done it too, he'd said testily, before releasing the guy's collar and letting him slip to the ground. Element had been in a relatively bad mood all day. Raven immediately levitated over to him and stood beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Element looked at her for a moment, then looked at the ground and exhaled, visibly relaxing.

"Sorry, Cyborg. I didn't mean to snap." he apologized. Cyborg waved it off.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean it. You've got a lot on your mind today."

"You should do some meditating when you get home." Raven suggested. Of course, this was also just another way of saying to her boyfriend that spending time with her would help take his mind off of Gamer's departure from the team. Whenever the two of them meditated, Element absorbed her dark energy and they entered the union. When this happened, they would both levitate off the ground and repeat the famous mantra, letting all thoughts and feelings disappear and obtain complete inner focus. The fact that they shared the same existence on a mental, emotional and technically physical level when in the union meant that they were able to achieve an inner piece not only within themselves but within each other as well. It was something nobody besides the two of them could ever or would ever understand.

"Yeah," Element nodded in agreement. "I need to release some frustration. It's not like me to get worked up over anything like I am now." he said. It wasn't even twenty-four hours since Gamer had left (although it was drawing close to it), and he already was acting really cranky, and that just wasn't like him. Entering a relationship with Raven must have freed up a lot of his emotional indifference about the world. The fact that he and Gamer had not been apart in over six years, and never under these circumstances, certainly didn't help his disposition.

-----

Blackfire had not had a meal so delicious since she had been banned from Tamaran. Even having lived with the Titans the last few weeks, Cyborg had only made her what she needed to live and had not gone the extra distance with her meals. But Gamer's mother had made possibly the best dinner she'd ever had outside of the palace.

Gamer was tell his parents about all that had transpired in the months since he and Element had been practically driven from their home by the other citizens. He'd told them about their first personal meeting with the Titans, their acceptance into the team, the great battles they'd had since then, the fun times they'd had hanging out with the other teenage heroes. He'd told them of Element's success in becoming romantically involved with his long-time crush, Raven. Tiffany had actually clapped at that, grinning ear to ear, while Darren had nodded approvingly, a small grin on his face. That their less… motivated son had finally found not only a friend but someone who he was actually able to express some feeling to, it was a dream come true for them, and they couldn't wait to meet the famous Raven in person.

The only thing Gamer had left out was his reason for being here now, and how Blackfire was involved. There was no sense in making his parents worry about him leaving his new home for the sake of someone who was still viewed as a technical bad guy. He had told his parents that Blackfire had arrived on earth a few weeks ago, and that the Titans simply didn't have room for her to stay long term, so she had left to find another option of what to do, and Gamer had gone with her to keep her company until she got settled. It was fairly close to the truth, depending on how you looked at it, but it was all his folks needed to know at the moment.

"Then I blasted the giant killer crab all the way into the forest. She was down for the count, and the forest scavengers got a rare seafood dinner." Gamer said, smiling as he told his parents about the Titans' battle with the army of giant killer crabs and it's climatic finale.

"That's my boy, always tough." Darren said with pride. Tiffany obviously had the typical mother's concern on her face, but was also proud of her boys for being such successful superheroes.

"Well, you and your brother just be careful out there and don't be trying to take down any supervillains on your own. You're both part of a team of professional heroes for a reason." she said. The Gamer rolled his eyes, but they were obscured behind his sunglasses and his mother didn't see it.

"Yes mom, I know." he said, exasperated at her pointing out the obvious but not wanting to be disrespectful.

"How was your meal, Blackfire?" Tiffany asked her son's friend. Blackfire actually smiled, although having carried a sarcastic look on her face in her smiles for so long, it was almost hard to tell if she was being sincere, but her tone of voice cleared that up.

"It was delicious. The best I've had in a very long time. Thank you." she said, being polite and truthful, two rarities for her. If she really were going to live up to Gamer's trust in her that she could become a better person, the best way to start would be to get along well with his parents. Tiffany nodded in appreciation for the praise over her hard work. Darren then asked them both a question.

"So, any idea where you're going?" he asked. Gamer frowned as he thought about it, and Blackfire looked at him. She had absolutely no knowledge of this planet beyond what she'd seen in Jump City during both of her stays there. Wherever they went from here would be up to Gamer.

"We're not really sure." he said. "Maybe we'll head to Steel City to see the Titans East. They might have room for Blackfire to stay, or know someplace else that might. There are Titans all over the world. We might get in touch with some of them while we're out and about." he answered, really having no clear idea of where they were going either, but deciding that they should probably go to where there was at least one other superhero around.

"When are you going to leave?" Darren asked. Gamer thought it over.

"In a short while here." he answered. Tiffany drew in a breath.

"Oh no, Cody, you only just got here!" she said, nearly whining. she did not want him to leave again so soon.

"I'm sorry mom, but as an official Teen Titan, I've got duties to perform, even while away from the team. And besides, somebody was sure to have seen me and Blackfire come in here. Soon the whole neighborhood will know, and that'll be trouble. Nobody wants us around anymore as long as we have superpowers. Since I'm not an adult, they think I'm dangerous having access to such power, like I can't handle it or something. And I don't want to bring that trouble down on you guys again." he finished. His mother sighed.

"It's so unfair that you boys had to leave because of all those stupid people. They're just jealous and afraid. I know you'd have to leave someday, and with your new powers you deserved to be on a team like the Titans, but you didn't have to go yet. You still had some years to spend here." she looked like she might cry like she had on the day when her two babies had left the nest.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Berenson." Blackfire said, speaking up for the first time without being spoken to first. "I promise that I'll be looking after him." she then turned and looked at the Gamer, and spoke as much to him as to his parents. "He's already done so much for me when he didn't need to. It's only right that I return the favor. He's the best friend I've ever had." Then she smiled. Gamer looked amazed at Blackfire's words, then smiled back. Both Tiffany and Darren noticed the look that passed between them, and looked at each other. They both raised their eyebrows, wondering if that look meant what they thought it meant, then smiled to themselves a little.

Turning away from Blackfire, Gamer stood up.

"Well, we should probably be going now." he said, wiping his face with a napkin before setting it on the empty plate. His parents and Blackfire also stood up. The four of them walked to the front door of the house, Gamer and Blackfire stepping outside and then turning back around to face the two adults.

"Don't worry, you guys. I'm not going forever. These people will get over it in time and me and Element will be able to come around more often and for longer stays. I'll tell him that you send your love the next time I see him." he said to them.

Tiffany was holding back tears as she threw her arms around her son and hugged him strongly.

"You take care now, Cody." she said to him. "Please be safe, and look after your brother. He still needs your help with life, even if he is coming out of his shell at last." Gamer hugged his mother back.

"I will mom. I promise." Darren stepped forward and hugged his son as well, the drew back and shook his hand.

"I'm proud of you son; you and your brother both. This is your gift, so use it well and for all you're worth. And like your mother said, be careful." he said, releasing his son's hand.

"We love you, Cody." Tiffany said. Gamer nodded.

"I love you too mom. Both of you." he smiled, then turned around and began walking down the brick path to the sidewalk. Blackfire stood there for a moment, not sure what to say. Finally, she summoned up some words.

"Thank you for inviting me to share dinner with you. It was wonderful. And I meant what I said, I'll look after him for you." she then offered up what she hoped was an understanding smile. Surprisingly, Tiffany stepped forward and gave her a friendly hug, catching Blackfire completely off guard.

"It was nice meeting you. We hope things turn out ok for you too." she said. Darren also stepped forward and briefly hugged her and Blackfire was still too stunned to respond.

"Take care of yourself, Miss." Darren said. Shaking off her surprise, Blackfire straightened up.

"It was nice meeting you both. Thank you again. Goodbye." she said, giving a small wave, then turning around and walking to join Gamer. Once she reached him, she put her arms around his waist and began to rise into the sky. Gamer turned around to look at his parents and wave. The two adults waved back. Once they were too far away to be seen clearly anymore, the Gamer turned around to face front again, then looked up at Blackfire.

"I think they like you." he said with a grin.

------

This was it. Gizmo was finally done. He had just put the finishing touches on his project and his task was now complete. Finally, he could be done with this deal, get out of Slade's lair and move on. Time to go turn this thing in to Slade an collect his reward of advanced technologies as promised to him.

Grabbing the finished product, Gizmo exited the lab assigned to him, immediately joined by the two robotic minions that stood watch outside the lab doors. They began to walk with him, towards Slade's observation lounge.

Gizmo didn't get how Slade could keep living underground like this, with all these hissing machines and turning gears and things. It was extremely creepy.

Finally coming to the door that lead to the place where Slade spent most of his time nowadays, Gizmo entered, the door swooshing open automatically. All around him, screens and monitors of various kinds covered the walls. Some recorded sections of Jump City at all times, others were very small, nearly microscopic mobile spy robots that kept tabs on the Titans twenty-four/seven. And not just the Titans here in Jump City either, but others from all over the world, and even some members of the famed Justice League were being monitored at all times.

Staring at the largest screens which showed all of the original Teen Titans, his primary nemeses, Slade stood tall with his hands drawn behind his back. Gizmo approached him, nervousness apparent in his voice.

"Um, Slade? It's done. I've finished the work." he told his employer.

"Excellent. You've done well, Gizmo, and you've fulfilled your end of the bargain." Turning around, Slade settled his cold, single eye on the pint-sized teenage villain. "I will of course inspect the final product before payment is delivered. You understand." Slade explained, like this was an ordinary business deal. Which for him, perhaps, it was. Gizmo didn't know and didn't care. He handed the small container over, inside which was held the item that Slade had commissioned Gizmo to develop for him.

Gizmo had at first found Slade's request odd. He thought maybe the guy had finally lost his sanity in his hate for the Titans. How in the world could this possibly give him control over the new Titan members and allow him to take over the world, and possibly the rest of the universe? Slade had been so calm and nonchalant about it too, but that was his style. He'd found a way to ultimate power and he was treating it like it was no big deal. That's how well Slade's self-control worked. He was no screaming megalomaniac. He was a chess player who had an extra queen piece to move around.

After thinking on it a while, however, Gizmo had finally begun to suspect exactly how Slade might use this thing, and once he understood this, he really began to wonder if he could go through with it. He understood exactly how Slade wanted him to program it and what he wanted Gizmo to put into it. It was… monstrous was the only word to describe it. That was Slade all over. Monstrous. But Gizmo knew that if he backed out it would probably mean his life, so he'd had no choice but to finish. And now that it was done, deep down he secretly hoped that the Titans stopped him; that Slade would not win against them even with this new "weapon".

After glancing over his new acquisition, Slade nodded, satisfied with the results of Gizmo's labor. He placed it back into it's container and walked over to his thrown chair on the other side of the room, slipping it into a secret compartment in one of the arm rests. He then turned back to Gizmo and approached him.

"I am satisfied. You have done your job well." he said. Gizmo sighed with relief. Now Slade moved to his side, standing right next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Now then, before I go get your payment, one last thing." he said, coldly. Gizmo shivered, now very afraid.

"You kept our agreement a secret, right? I told you not to discuss our arrangement with _anyone_, and nobody else knows about it but us, correct?" Slade asked, nothing but sinister seriousness in his voice. Gizmo shook in fear, but nodded.

"Y-y-yes. I promise. I didn't tell anybody about it. That's the t-t-truth." he stuttered. Slade's eye narrowed, and he patted Gizmo on the shoulder.

"Very good." he said simply.

Then, faster than any normal person could have followed, Slade reached into the utility belt that ran from his shoulder, across his torso and down to his hip. He reached in and pulled out a knife. With equal speed, so fast that Gizmo had no hope of reacting, Slade brought the blade around and thrust it into Gizmo's heart.

Gizmo gasped in shock and pain, the wind knocked out of his lungs. He looked up in confusion, pain and fear at Slade's narrowed gray eye and his vision began to blur and darken. Slade gave the knife a slight little twist, cutting deeper into the young man's heart. After a moment, Gizmo grew limp and fell backwards to the floor, his fall causing him to slide off the knife. Pulling out a rag, Slade wiped the knife clean, then placed it back in it's place.

Had Gizmo truly thought that Slade did not know about him telling Jinx all about their arrangement? Had he believed that Slade would not find out? Apparently, because he had lied at the end. Had he told the truth, Slade would have kicked him across the room for opening his stupid trap and blabbing the whole thing simply because he'd been kissed on the forehead by his female "teammate". A stupid act of weakness, to be sure, but one Slade could not really blame him for. Slade would have knocked him around a little as penalty, then handed him his payment and sent him on his way.

But in lying about it at the end of the deal, Gizmo had shown himself untrustworthy as well as unreliable. Once Slade put his plan into action, Gizmo could not be counted on to not tell the Titans about any possible weakness he may have secretly put into the finished product. If he had told the truth and simply taken his beatings, he would have a fresh memory of it and would not dare tell the Titans anything should they interrogate him, for fear of the penalty.

So, Slade had been force to remove Gizmo from the equation. Perhaps not very sporting of him to send him off like that after just having agreed to give him his payment, but it didn't really bother Slade that much. He was on the threshold of attaining a type of power and control that he had never allowed himself to dream of having. It had always been a chess game before and he'd simply been content with slowly gaining control through power play rather than taking everything by force, because to do it in that way would ultimately mean all the world's defenders would band together to stop him.

But now, with the device Gizmo had made for him and the two newest members of the Titans team, Slade could take over everything so completely that none of earth's heroes would be able to stop him, and when they were gone, nobody else would have the will to try. He would no longer be doing whatever he wanted while managing to stay outside the reach of the law; he would simply be doing whatever he wanted and not worry about anyone trying to stand in his way. Because in the end, world domination was really just the most complete way of ensuring that nobody could tell you that you couldn't do whatever you felt like doing. And now, he was going to have that at last.

He looked back at the monitors that showed the Teen Titans. There was Robin. And Starfire. And Cyborg. Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, and Element. The Gamer had been absent from the team for two weeks now, but he knew just how to get him back to Jump City. And he would need the Gamer to come back in order for his plan to work. He would need all of the Teen Titans present and accounted for in order for success to occur. Element and Raven would be necessary to get the ball rolling, the Gamer was needed for the main objective to be fulfilled, and the rest of them would need to be there for the real test, to see if his new "weapon" would indeed be as powerful as he intended it to be. If he could defeat the others with it, then there would be no stopping him. Yes, he would need them all and at their best, in this game of all or nothing.

"Sleep well tonight, Titans. Tomorrow… it begins."

* * *

Well, we're almost there. Only three chapters left of this story. For nearly two years now, since the second chapter, I've let you guys know here and there that Slade had some big scheme and that he was working behind the scenes to pull it off. And while we won't be seeing what that main objective is until chapter 14, the next chapter will have it go into action at last. I will tell you guys now that the next two chapters will probably be a bit longer than most of the others in this story. Especially chapter 14. These next two will be full of action and lots of battles going on, and I will actually be having the other Titans take on some important battle sequences, not just Element and the Gamer. I know that I've done a lot more focus on them than the others, but it is their story, after all. They take center stage in this story so that we learn about them, since we already know about the other Titans. When I do the two sequels to this story someday, it will be about the whole group equally, not just my own original characters. 

In the next chapter, two weeks have gone by since the Gamer left with Blackfire for parts unknown. While the two settle in Gotham City for the time being, the other Titans decide to have a relaxing day at the beach. But their day off is ruined by Slade, who finally puts his plan into motion. And when Raven is captured by Slade's minions, only the tag team efforts of Element and Terra can rescue her. Will they succeed? Find out soon in Element and the Gamer chapter 13: Slade strikes! See you guys then!


	13. Slade strikes

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Since I don't know who's still following this story from when it first started, mainly due to my lack of updating for almost a year, I'm just going to say that thanks go out to everyone who ever gave this fic their blessing. Thank you for appreciating this, my second fic, and giving me the drive to keep going this far, albeit a little late.

Gamer Disclaimer: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas does not belong to me. Teen Titans does not belong to me. Neither does Batman.

* * *

Chapter 13: Slade strikes

Starfire exited from her room, having just finished brushing her hair after her morning shower. Today was looking to be a beautiful day, and she very much looked forward to spending most of it with Robin. Still, even so, there was a part of her that was quite gloomy.

Two weeks had gone by since the Gamer had left with her sister for parts unknown. Every attempt to contact them had failed, as Gamer seemed to have left his communicator off. For two weeks she had not known what had become of her dear friend and her sister. She knew they could both handle themselves, so she was not really worried about them. But she did miss Gamer's cheery attitude and his genuine desire to be her friend.

It had been almost too much to bear to turn him down all those many weeks ago when he had asked her to be his girlfriend. It had frankly come as a surprise to her that he had thought about her that way. She had believed that all the attention he had shown her since they first met was because he was a fan of hers and merely wanted to be her friend. When he had asked her out on what was basically a date, she had thought that it was not really serious, just a little outing between friends.

But then, she had learned that Gamer had in fact had a deeper interest in her than that. And although she was flattered beyond measure, she had to reject his offer. She'd had her heart set on Robin, and the Gamer was a friend to her, and she simply didn't feel for him the way she felt for Robin. Gamer had accepted her rejection well enough and had continued to be her friend thereafter, even becoming her best friend after she became romantically involved with Robin. He seemed to hold no grudge against her or Robin at all for how things had turned out, and she had become used to the time they spent together every day.

And now, even two weeks after his departure from the tower, she still wasn't used to him not being there. She headed for the stairs and made her way up to the rooftop. Robin would be waiting there, as he always was, unless she beat him to it. Either way, they always shared the sunrise together.

She opened the door to her roof, and sure enough, the Boy Wonder sat at the edge of the roof, looking at the rising sun, its radiance glistening off of the blue ocean water.

"A pleasant morning to you, Robin." she said to him as she approached his position, a smile forming on her face. Robin turned around to look at her and smiled as well. It was a different kind of smile from his usual one. A smile he had only started having on his face after the two of them had become an official couple. It was the smile he shared only with her, and only she could recognize it.

"Good morning, Starfire. Did you sleep well?" he asked her, watching as she took her seat right next to him. She immediately rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, thank you." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, letting the troubles leave her mind as she simply took in the feel of his warm shoulder against her cheek.

"Is something wrong?" Robin asked, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her even closer. She did not object to this.

"No, I am merely saddened that Gamer still has not come back. I again awoke expecting to see him today. I push sorrowful things out of my mind too easily; I still forget each morning that he is gone until I have left my room and I am reminded of how our home seems somewhat empty." she admitted to him, letting him know the troubles of her mind this morning. Robin reached over with his free hand, grabbed one of hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"It's ok, Star. You're just such a joyful person, you don't linger on things like most other people do. There's nothing wrong with you forgetting that Gamer isn't with us anymore. It only shows that you can't be kept down by sad things. That's one of the qualities about you that I love. You're never ending joy." he said, smiling again.

Starfire also smiled at his kind words and leaned over further to softly kiss him on the cheek. She then rested her head on his shoulder again while he blushed.

"Thank you Robin. Your understanding of my feelings is one of the things that makes you so special." she said.

Robin was blushing, still not quite used to that kind of attention, but he was slowly adapting to it. Leaning his head over and resting it on top of hers, he turned his attention back to the rising sun and the two teenage lovebirds just sat and enjoyed the morning in each other's company.

-----

In his room, Cyborg was putting the finishing touches on the adjustment he'd made to his scanner readout in his arm. Ever since the Gamer had left, the cybernetic Titan had taken it upon himself to develop a means of detecting if their friend was in the area, to let them know if he had returned to Jump City without actually contacting them.

The key was trying to detect the energy signal Gamer gave off whenever he transformed into a videogame character. His game controller had a unique energy signature that would not be mistaken for anything else, and now Cyborg had finally found a way to detect it within a thirty kilometer area.

Cyborg had been using his time going over the readouts from the sensors in the tower and what they detected whenever Gamer had transformed while inside the tower. He had then taken that information, and after some very delicate fine tuning, had at last made a detection system hooked into his internal sensors. Now, if Gamer set foot into the scanner's range, he'd know about it.

"Boo-yah." he said to himself, smiling at the small triumph. Man, was he the best or what?

-----

In the tower living room, Beast Boy was miserable. Last night, he'd gone on a candy eating binge against Cyborg and lost. To top it off, not only had he been sick to his stomach all night as a result, but now this morning he had the biggest sugar rush headache in history.

He lay on the couch, his head in Terra's lap. The blonde girl was sitting on the couch, wiping Beast Boy's sweating forehead with a cloth and holding a bag of ice in place against his head. She listened to her boyfriend's moans and groans with deep sympathy, yet a bit of sternness too. She'd told him this would happen, but had he listened to her? Who was she kidding? This was Beast Boy. He wasn't going to listen to anybody; even her.

"I feel like I'm gonna die here." Beast Boy groaned as a fresh spike of pain ripped through his head like an earthquake. Terra's face pouted in over-exaggerated sympathy as she daubed fresh sweat off his forehead.

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy, but you brought this on yourself. You know that, right?" she asked him.

"Guh. Yeah, I know. But please Terra, don't talk so loud. Please." he begged, genuinely feeling as awful as he made it sound. Now Terra bit her lip in real concern. She knew he'd be ok in time, but he really was in a great deal of pain. Pain? More like tortuous agony. Indeed, to Beast Boy, it felt like his head was the Himalayan mountain range, caught between the tectonic plates of Asia and India, rammed on both sides by inconceivable force.

Getting an idea to make him feel a little better, if only for a second, Terra leaned down and gave him a soft kiss, making it last a good ten seconds to take his mind off the pain in his head. She sat up again and smiled at him hopefully.

"Feel any better?" she asked, expecting some joking remark from him. But, she did not get it.

"Sorry Terra, but no. Not this time. Even that won't help this headache." he managed to sputter out. Now Terra knew how serious it was. Their kisses took Beast Boy's mind off of _everything_. If it was possible to kiss and eat something at the same time, Beast Boy would eat an entire slab of beef and not know it, so distracted he would be, lip locked with Terra. If a kiss from her did not help ease the torment he was going through now, then he really must have felt like he was dying.

Behind the two on couch, at the kitchen table, Raven and Element sat, drinking the last of their morning tea. Neither of them said much. True, neither of them had ever said much to begin with, but even their, there was a lot less vocalization from either of them for the past two weeks, unusual even for them.

This was mostly due to Element's attitude of late. If Starfire, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra and Raven had gotten depressed and quiet due to Gamer's absence, Element had just about given up caring about anything altogether. He had been separated from his twin from the longest time on record and was now grumpy and rather snappish towards anyone about pretty much anything. Except Raven. Nothing could ever make him stop caring about Raven, not with the bond they shared now.

Still, even with her, Element hardly spoke much lately. True, they never had to speak to each other much anyway, considering how deep their bond went, but that was besides the point. The only communication between them was mental and emotional, through the union. Raven knew that Element missed his brother terribly and had reverted very much to how he had been when she'd first met him. Worse, in some ways. Now, not only did he see everything as pointless again, he would get actively angry whenever anyone tried to cheer him up.

With Beast Boy, Terra and Starfire in particular he had developed a very short temper with in these last couple of weeks. Mainly because they kept bothering him to do something or spend time together or whatever. They were trying to be optimistic, and Element had no interest in optimism whatsoever, so it put him at odds with his three cheerful friends. Raven, Cyborg and Robin all knew the amount of space to give him and respected that space, and so Element had been able to deal with them the easiest.

Right now, Element was glad he and Raven were done with their "breakfast", as he was getting very tired of hearing Beast Boy whine. It was his own fault for doing such a stupid thing anyway, so why should the rest of them have to suffer hearing it? But they didn't have any headache medicine in the tower to help his headache go away. Cyborg's electronic system had kept him from suffering the affects of eating so much candy, so Beast Boy was the sole victim of that idiocy last night.

Standing up from the table, Element wordlessly placed his cup in the sink and began heading for the common room doors, Raven right behind him, also putting her cup away. Neither of them had to say anything, as they both knew each other so perfectly well. Raven knew what Element would do when he stood up and where he'd go, and Element knew that Raven would follow him.

As they headed for the doors to leave back to Element's room, Beast Boy called out.

"Hey Raven? I don't suppose I could ask a favor of you?" he moaned. Raven stopped and turned to him, a small bit of concern on her face, but only a small bit.

"I'm sorry Beast Boy, but I can't help you. My healing powers work only for a physical wound. A headache does not involve any actual damage to your body, so I can't do anything about it." she said in her monotone voice.

Hearing this, Beast Boy let out a whine that sounded like a drowning man who knows he's not going to make it, and deciding to give off one last cry of misery and anger over his inevitable fate. Hearing this, Element clenched his fists, bared his teeth and shook with frustration. He then turned around and walked over to the couch, standing in front of Beast Boy and Terra, who looked up at him in fear, uncertain as to what he was going to do.

Element held out his hand, cupped it into a fist and seemed to concentrate very hard, the veins in his forehead standing out, his eyelids twitching as he scrunched his eyes closed. After a moment, Element let out a breath, then seemed to relax. He held his hand out to the pair on the couch and opened it. In his hand were two small white tablets. Terra and Beast Boy looked up at him in curiosity, the sweat coming out of Beast Boy's head just as strongly as ever.

"Here. Take these and you should feel better in a little while." Element said, sounding exasperated and finally doing something to fix whatever the source of his annoyance was.

"What are they?" Beast Boy croaked. Element answered him.

"When I absorb something, or form to something, I take in every chemical element or reaction that thing has. Sometimes, I store a little bit of in my body and keep it there, because I never know when I'll need to use it for something. This is stuff I kept in me just for the heck of it, and I can use it to help you." he said. He lowered his hand for Beast Boy to take the two pills.

"It's 250 mg of Acetaminophen, 250 mg of Aspirin, and 65 mg of Caffeine." he said to the green teen. Beast Boy and Terra both looked back up at him, eyebrows cocked, not having a clue what he'd just said. Rolling his masked eyes in annoyance, Element clarified.

"Excedrin."

"Ooooh." the two confused Titans said at once. "You mean you can create medicines and things?" Terra asked.

"Only if I have the right chemical ingredients stored in my body already." Element said, wanting to leave now.

Deciding to lend a hand, Raven used her powers to draw a glass from the cupboard, levitated it over to the sink and turned it on, filling the glass with water. She then levitated it over to the couch where Terra took it from the air. She lifted Beast Boy's head up a little, noticing him wince with the spike of agony that shot through his head with the motion. Nevertheless, Beast Boy put the two pills in his mouth, then took a swallow of the water when Terra held the glass to his lips, and down the pills went.

Terra rested his head back down in her lap and put the glass aside. Beast Boy smiled up at Element and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Thanks buddy." he said.

"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it." Element said impatiently. He turned and walked towards the doors again, Raven following him, until they passed through and were out of the room.

-----

Element felt a little more at piece with his body consisting of the dirt in his nature-oriented room. Things just seemed to come into focus and fall into place whenever his body formed to something else besides his own flesh. It wasn't helping as much as it used to, but it still helped. His sadness at his brother's absence eased somewhat.

Raven levitated in the air, legs crossed, reciting her famous mantra, doing her own form of relaxation in the form of meditating. She also felt down about Gamer being gone, like the others, but most if it came from what she was picking up from Element. His own moods affected her, because of the connection they now had. But even if that weren't the case, the fact that the young man who was her boyfriend was feeling down these last couple of weeks would have made her down as well anyway. Like any good significant other, her boyfriend's problems became hers by sympathy and compassion. She wouldn't feel better herself until Element felt better, and that wouldn't happen until Gamer returned.

"That was nice of you to help Beast Boy like that." she said, not opening her eyes.

"I was tired of hearing him whine." Element responded plainly. Raven's lips curled up just a tad, to a shadow of a smile.

"That's not all it was. You felt sorry for him." she said. Element opened his eyes and looked at her.

"If you have something to say, I'm listening." he said, sounding genuinely interested.

"Well," Raven began, "You've been behaving like you don't care about anything, pretty much like you did when you first came here. But I know you more than anyone ever could, and I know that it was never completely true. It most especially hasn't been true since you became a Titan. You helped Beast Boy because he's your friend and you felt sorry for him." she concluded.

Element stood there and stared at his girlfriend for a few seconds, before sighing deeply and reverted his body to its normal consistency.

"I'd call it sympathizing more than feeling sorry." he said, making no attempt to actually deny what she'd said. Raven's slight smile left her lips, but remained in her eyes.

"Just admit it, Element. Even though your brother left, you do care about things. You're just using your old attitude as a way avoiding the sadness and frustration." She lowered her legs to the ground and walked up to him, taking his hand in a gesture she'd only show so casually with him. "It's alright to be sad and to feel frustration. I felt them all the time and hid behind my meditation. But it only works so much, and it has no purpose when you don't have to hide it. I don't have to hide my emotions anymore when I'm with you. Why put yourself through more misery and self-loathing instead of just going along with the sadness and using it to your advantage?"

Element squeezed her hand as he thought about that. Raven was the wisest person he knew when it came to dealing with emotions, and for obvious reasons. He'd always been hiding his sadness and loneliness, his lack of direction in life and his deep feeling of hopelessness from not knowing just what he was in this world to do. He'd hid it all for years behind a mask of uncaring, unfeeling anti-socialism. Life had no point, there was no reason to care, just get yourself to believe that and you won't have to confront your emotional vulnerabilities about not knowing who you really were. Well, he'd believed it alright. He'd practically brainwashed himself into it, so well that it was never going to go away completely, for as long as he lived. But, if anyone knew how to bring enough of the real Element to the surface, for a chance to breathe and a chance to actually feel, it was Raven.

"You know Raven," he began. "Sometimes, I wonder how I even managed to survive the sixteen years I lived before I met you. It all seemed like a meaningless blur before I finally came here and got to know you." Raven smiled again, a real smile this time.

"I know you do. I don't even need to you to absorb my soul energy to know that. I feel the same way, all the time." she admitted. Element leaned in and kissed her after that. They continued to kiss for a few minutes, then sat down and crossed their legs, and Raven allowed Element to absorb her energy. After that… well, for a while, all individual thoughts and feelings went away, and the two entered their own unique bond that could not be shared by any other being in the universe.

-----

A few hours later and it was almost noon. Robin and Starfire had come down from the roof and had spent most of that time sitting at the kitchen table and talking. Cyborg came out of his room and made breakfast for everyone, except Raven and Element, whom Terra had confirmed had already had their breakfast of a cup of tea each. And Beast Boy's headache finally went away after an hour. The pills that Element had made for him from elements stored away in his own body had dimmed the pain considerably about twenty minutes after he'd taken them. A dull ache had remained for the next hour and a half, and after that, seemed to have just dropped off completely. Excedrin? Psh, maybe, but it sure seemed a bit stronger than that.

Now, Beast Boy was getting restless, and having looked after him all morning, Terra was also feeling like getting out and doing something. As much as the two energetic teens enjoyed it, there were only so many times a day, so many days in a row, where they could make out without it starting to get just the tiniest bit tiring. Not necessarily boring, but they just felt like doing something different than spending the whole day having their lips do push-ups against each other's.

"Dudes, I'm bored! What are we going to do today? There hasn't been hardly any crime in weeks, it's a beautiful day outside, and we're all just sitting in here. Let's go out and do something together today." Beast Boy said aloud. Cyborg had to agree.

"Yeah, I got to go with the Grass Stain's idea." he said with a smirk at Beast Boy, who glared back. "It would be nice if we could all go do something as friends for a change instead of just a team. Last time we did that was when BumbleBee was in town and we went to the dance club." Here, he sighed. "Sure wish she could get a chance to come over here again, but Steel City is still having crime issues at this time of year."

Robin thought about what his two friends had said, then looked at Starfire next to him. She was looking at him expectantly, hoping that he would agree to let them do something fun together as just a group of friends, and not a team of superheroes. Sometimes, it was nice to just be normal. And realizing that he could spend his day doing a something like a normal boy spending quality time with his girl, Robin decided that it would be a good idea.

"Sure, I'm for it." he said, smiling. Starfire gasped, elated at his decision, her smile and sparkling eyes promising a very big hug and an even bigger kiss later. "What did you guys have in mind?" he asked.

Beast Boy was grinning ear to ear with excitement, but then it fell away as he entered serious thought. He had not actually had anything in mind, he just wanted to do _something_ outside the tower today. Then, Terra came up with something that he liked immediately.

"Anybody wanna go to the beach?" she asked.

-----

There was a knock on the door. Element returned his body to normal and disconnected the union. Raven drew the energy she had allowed Element to absorb back into herself.

"Come in." Element said aloud. While he would have preferred to remain in the union longer, he was not upset over the interruption, nor was Raven. He simply wanted to know the business of whoever had dropped by. The door opened and Robin stepped in, walking down the few steps to the dirt covered floor of Element's room.

"Hey guys. The rest of us have been talking, and we've decided to do something normal today. We're going to the beach. You guys want to come with us? I made Beast Boy and Terra promise to leave you both alone when we get there." he offered them.

Raven and Element looked at each other. Both were feeling much better than they had earlier, thanks to the union. Element was always the most peaceful after that, because he did not have actual living emotions to deal with. As such, he knew that it was Raven's call. If she did not want to handle going, then he would not be going either, as he only went where she went now.

After thinking it over for a moment, Raven decided that it would do Element and herself some good to get out of the tower for a while, maybe even involve themselves in the activities of their friends, even if just for a short while. Anything to get Element's mind off of Gamer's absence and the feeling of indifference that had been brought with it. It would also allow her to forget about the memories of her own indifference to life that had been brought back in helping him with his. She looked at Robin.

"Sure. Why not, just for a while. Let's go to the beach."

-----

It was a few hours later, about 2:00 in the afternoon. The Titans had arrived at the beach, found it mostly unpopulated at this hour on this day of the week, meaning that they had it all to themselves. They had some towels on the sand for them to lie on and a few others to dry themselves off whenever they went swimming. They'd brought lunch and snacks, large jug of fruit punch Cyborg had made himself (and some good stuff it was) and a few large umbrellas to sit under when they didn't want to sit in the sun.

The wind was breezy, the smell and sound of the ocean was as soothing as anything could be. All in all, the Titans were glad that they'd chosen to come here on this day. Seagulls darted across the sky and landed to pick at little bits of food that had been left around or washed up on shore here and there, but none of them came close to the Titans to bother them.

Beast Boy was wearing a pair of purple swim trunks, the strings tied at the waist band. He was lying on a towel under one of the umbrellas, next to Terra. The girl was wearing a yellow leotard, one of those one piece swim suits. While it didn't reveal her midsection, it still gave off a nice view of her slim figure. Beast Boy kept staring and drooling. Terra pretended not to notice, but she knew and she was giggling to herself all the while, relishing in the power she had over him just by wearing this thing. For a girl it was a serious rush to know that she had her boy's full attention, and therefore his mind, in the palm of her hand.

The best thing was, Beast Boy probably knew that she knew she had power over him at this moment, and some guys actually enjoyed being at the mercy of a girl's power in such a way. Beast Boy was one such guy. If Terra asked him to go buy a whole grocery store and bring it back to her, he would, and a part of him would actually feed off of doing what a super hot girl told him to do simply because she was super hot. It was a complex aspect of the male mind that no female would ever really understand, but if the guy didn't mind being a temporary slave to her hotness, a girl need not feel guilty exploiting it.

Robin was also in such a situation. He was sitting in the sand, under the sun, soaking up a few rays into his very pale skin that had been covered by his uniform for years. Maybe Starfire would like seeing him with a tan.

He had no way of knowing how much Starfire liked seeing him just without a shirt. Robin was the most well muscled and toned boy on the team. When Robin had removed the T-shirt he'd worn out here, leaving him only in his green swim trunks, she'd felt a shiver go up her spine and through her thighs. While he still wore his mask, she was still seeing more of him than she was used to, and boy was he hot, as earth girls would say.

Starfire was also the target of Robin's full attention. Right now, she was running back and forth along the beach, laughing in giddiness and joy at feeling the wet sand under her feet and the spray of the ocean tingling at the exposed parts of her body. And she had a lot of exposed parts. She was wearing a purple bikini. All the appropriate parts were covered, but the rest was out for the world to see. A good amount of cleavage was showing, the top parted tide across the back, without going over the shoulders. Her legs were completely bare, the bottom part of the bikini tied in strings at her hips, making her hips almost completely exposed as well.

Robin was wide-eyed as Starfire ran back and forth along the beach, watching her legs pump up and down, eyeing her cleavage when he saw her front, staring at her butt whenever she was facing away from him. It was not a thong bikini; that might have been a little too much for him. But still, the view was excellent and didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. That was why he was sitting down rather than lying down to soak up sun. If he'd been lying down while watching Starfire, well… it wouldn't have been too difficult for anyone looking over at him to see where his mind was, as his own body would have given it away.

Element stood in the water, staring out at sea. He hadn't even looked twice at Starfire or Terra, as he didn't care at all how they looked. If Raven had worn a swimsuit, that would have been a different story, but she hadn't so he was just enjoying the ocean. He stood with up to his knees in the water, the part above the waves actually looking like a boy made out of water as he absorbed the ocean into himself, feeling it flow through him, into him, up into the shape of his body and then back down again to be replaced by more water, keeping his human shape at all times like an automatic fountain that has water running in a cycle.

Raven sat under another of the umbrellas, on a towel. Like Element, she had not dressed for an afternoon at the beach, as she had no intention of going into the water or trying to get a tan. She did still take in the peaceful surroundings and what her senses told her of the ocean. The smells and sounds, and the sight on the few times she opened her eyes. She was in the lotus position, meditating in a way that only she and Element could understand as taking advantage as of a day at the beach.

Cyborg was lying back on a towel, letting the sun reflect off of his metallic body. He had his arms behind his head and had a large plastic cup with a straw sticking out of it, filled with is own home made punch. While Cyborg was waterproof, he still couldn't swim in the ocean, which was disappointing, but he was still enjoying his time on the beach. If he tried to swim, he'd sink to the bottom without his floatation propellers in the soles of his feet, but then, he'd only bob up and down in the water and not really go anywhere. Maybe he'd work on installing some life preserver inflators in his body that would allow him to float and actually swim. But for now, he was content to relax on the sand. At least he didn't have to worry about sand getting into his systems.

"So what do you guys think? Decline in the crime wave a cause to make us a last resort alternative for the police for a while?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy lifted his head from gazing at Terra and looked over at Cyborg.

"I hope so dude. We've done so much around here, it'd be nice to have a sort of summer vacation, even though it is going to be fall soon." he said, immediately looking right back at Terra. She nodded her agreement.

"Yeah, gotta agree there. I don't want to get lazy, but an official break would be nice."

"Don't get too used to that idea." Robin called over, looking away from Starfire's curvy form for just a brief second, before gluing his eyes right back to the red-haired hottie. "We are superheroes. We're always going to be in business." he said seriously.

Cyborg was about to respond with a reason why they could afford to take a little vacation from superhero work for just a few weeks, and why Robin in particular could really use the time off, when the world around him suddenly exploded.

Or at least, that's what it seemed like. Cyborg was literally blasted off of the ground with astounding force that hurtled him into the air, turning end over end as he did. A huge amount of sand was also flung into the air, along with Cyborg's towel and cup of punch, the lid of which was knocked right off, the straw knocked out of the hole in the lid, and the punch now mixing in with the sand as it all flew threw the air. Tumbling end over end, Cyborg finally came crashing back down, his landing softened only by the sand that was undisturbed.

The Titans were so startled by what had happened that they barely had time to react at all. As it was, all they could do was turn their heads and gasp for the first second or two, before whatever was happening had time to really register.

From under the sand, a large flying vehicle, maybe the size of a bus, pushed out and into the air. It was it's rising to the surface and blasting the ground in front of it away with the force of its exit that launched Cyborg from his position. The vehicle was long, looking kind of like something that you'd use to haul a lot of equipment inside, with a front drive section with windows that led to a long gray section that resembled the trailer on a big rig. Only instead of being box-shaped, this vehicle was rounded off, making it like a big metal tube almost. It had jet-like engines underneath it.

Stunned as they were to see a huge flying truck thingy suddenly shoot out of the ground under them, the Titans were quick to identify the figures they saw clinging to the sides of it. Figures six feet tall, clad in all black except at their arms, where it became grey metal, and their faces, where a copper colored circle could be seen. Slade's minions.

As Cyborg turned his head around to see what had knocked him for a loop, and as the other Titans were just getting to their feet for the battle that was obviously about to come, the back of this big flying truck opened, folding down like a ramp. Before the Titans could see anything inside it, a blinding flash of white light came out of it for a brief second. While most of the Titans just stood there unaffected, Raven recoiled like she'd been physically struck and began to tilt on her feet.

Then, fast as a striking rattlesnake, four long elastic ropes, like tentacles, lashed out of the back of the ship and wrapped themselves around the empathy, glowing in a strange purple light. They wrapped around both her arms and her legs, and swiftly and forcefully pulled her inside the ship and the door closed.

"Raven!" Element shouted, being the first to break free from his stunned state in the few seconds that all of this had taken place. Like water shot from a ruptured fire hydrant, Element gushed through the air as a powerful stream of water. He splashed against the side of the ship and reverted to his normal state, clinging there by the handholds all around the outside of the ship, which the robots were also holding onto.

"Titans, go!" Robin ordered. Starfire took to the air, Beast Boy turned into a rhino and Cyborg stood up, charging his sonic canon. About six of the leaped off of the ship to confront the Titans, while four remained behind. However, from the sand all around them, more robots began to spring up all around them. Dozens, all of them taking fighting stances.

Most of the Titans could take them, although Robin didn't have any of his gadgets on him. They were with his uniform back at the T-car, quite a ways away at the beach parking area. He could fight the robots without any weapons, he was certain. His hands and feet were weapons. All the same, he, Beast Boy, Terra and Starfire all looked rather ridiculous standing around in swimwear ready to fight.

The robots all charged forward to engage the Titans. All of this happened extremely quickly, mind you, so Element had not yet slipped himself through the side of the ship to the interior where Raven was being held. Just as his hands began to form to and slip through the structure of the metal the ship was made of, one of the four robots still clinging to the outside of the ship lashed out with a kick to his face.

He was knocked from the ship and tumbled to the ground as the jets underneath it began to blast harder and the ship began to rise into the air. Spitting sand out, Element climbed to his feet, then sank into the sand as one of the robots on the ground came flying at him. It went right over where he had been as he sprung up again.

Robin was sending kicks and punches to all the robots that came near him, using Judo flips to slam them to the sand as well, before jumping and bringing his knee down upon their heads to terminate them.

Cyborg was grabbed on all sides by several of them and began thrashing to throw them off, all the while blasting away with his sonic canon to any other robots that came at him to try and join the fun.

Starfire kept swooping around, grabbing a robot by its head, lifting it off the ground and then crushing its head between her powerful hands. She also used her eyebolts to knock a few to the ground.

Beast Boy charged through a group of robots like they were bowling pins in his rhino form, actually getting one stuck to his horn which had jutted right through its torso. He quickly shifted to his gorilla form and pounded his chest, howling defiance to his mechanical attackers. He threw punch after punch at anything that came his way and even grabbed a few robots by the neck and hurled them out into the ocean, where they promptly shorted out with the water mixing with their circuits and sank beneath the waves.

Terra was summoning rocks from out of the water, below the level of sand, and zinging them at her robot attackers, punching holes in their heads and torsos, sparks of electricity shooting out wherever the rocks punctured.

Element stood, feeling helpless as he watched the truck ship fly away with his girlfriend and soul-mate held captive inside it. Inside of him, a burning fury began to rage up, and he swore to himself that if Slade harmed Raven before Element could rescue her, he was going to do more than go to jail for it. Element would see him crippled and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. But he just felt helpless at the moment. He could not fly unless he formed to something that also could, and unless a plane took off from the beach right now that he could slip himself into, he had no way of pursuing the ship.

"Starfire! You and Beast Boy go after that ship! Try to get Raven back, and if you can't, stay with it until you see where it goes!" Robin ordered. Element turned back to him.

"No!" he fired back at Robin. Robin was busy fighting robots at the time, so didn't really have time to ask if he had a better idea, but he figured Element must have just that, or he wouldn't bother saying anything. "You need Starfire and Beast Boy here to finish off these things. Terra, you and I will go after them." he said. Terra turned to Element as she dodged away from a robot attack.

"What? How are we going to be able to save Raven?" she fired back, wondering if he'd lost his mind. Element's masked face frowned.

"Give me a sand cloud." he said sternly. Terra frowned herself, her eyes glowing yellow as she prepared to summon her power as soon as she understood what he wanted from her.

"Give you what?" she asked. When she said that, Element almost felt like going over and popping her between the eyes to get her brain working. Almost.

"Have you ever seen _The Mummy_?!" he shouted, hoping that she got it. She did, and Terra smiled in comprehension and the genius of his idea.

"Gotcha!" she said, and thrust her hands forward, summoning all her power. All around the battle taking place on the beach, the sand beneath their feet stirred. Being made of just billions of really tiny rocks, Terra had mental control over the movements of all of them if she so wished. Bringing her arms to her side, Terra forced all the side within her sphere of influence to rise into the air in a gigantic wall of sand that did indeed look like the one in the _Mummy_ movie.

While the rest of the Titans covered their eyes to avoid getting flying sand in them, Element just stood in the middle of it all, and then disappeared. Terra knew he'd absorbed himself into the huge cloud of sand around them all. Terra thrust her hands forward again, commanding the sand cloud forward and through the air, in the direction of the ship that had just abducted Raven.

Then, summoning a large and relatively flat rock out of the ocean, Terra hopped on it and rose into the air as well, commanding the rock to levitate forward and follow the cloud of sand that she was using her powers to push forward. While she may have been the one keeping the sand in the air and moving forward, Terra knew that it was Element who was in command of its actions, and her part in this was to just keep the sand flying. Element would take care of the rest.

The ship flew along the beach line, then began to fly into the city. Terra kept the sand cloud on its tail the whole time. Most of the sand was up in the air, so it didn't affect the people outside very much, but many buildings had their windows obscured by sand as it blew past. The sand cloud quickly began to catch up with the ship.

As they watched, the four robots still clinging to the outside of the ship saw the sand cloud form a large face in the front; Element's face. It was indeed like _The Mummy_. Also like in that movie, Element opened his mouth and surged the sand forward, knocking two of the robots right off of the ship and letting them tumble end over end to the ground far below. The remaining two, towards the front of the ship, watched as the sand began to swirl together to form a humanoid shape. After a few seconds, Element formed, the last vestiges of sand disappearing into his body.

Terra continued to fly along behind them, keeping her power focused on Element, should he need her at any time. She watched as he somehow managed to stand on the top of the fast moving ship without losing his balance in the slightest. He turned to look at her and nodded. Terra nodded back and even gave a little salute. She had done her part in this. She'd stay with them as long as she could, but it was all in her friend's hands now.

Element stood his ground as the two robots began to advance on him. They must have had magnetized feet, as they did not appear ready to fall off of the moving ship. Element just stood his ground as they came near, ready to make his move based on what theirs would be.

The first robot that got to him dropped down and swept its leg forward, obviously trying to kick Element's legs out from under him. That's what happened, literally. Element's legs disintegrated like a dried sand castle being kicked. He collapsed to his waste, sand spreading out beneath him.

In retaliation, he formed his left hand into a large hammer of sand, and knocked it into the robot. The ninja-looking machine almost slid right off the ship, but managed to find one of the hand holds on the outside and held on. Element reformed his legs from the sand beneath him and turned his right hand into an even larger sand hammer and smacked the robot again, trying to knock it off. The robot held onto the handle which tore away, pulling a long cable out of the side of the ship with it. The force of the blow knocked it back and it swung around to the other side of the ship, the cable pulling tight and not coming loose. The robot's swing brought it right behind one of the engines, the backwash of which propelled the robot right back along the same swing until it landed right back where it was when Element hit it the second time.

Element brought the hammer up again and slammed the robot a third time, this time straight down, hoping to crush it against the side of the ship. Instead, the force of the blow knocked the robot right through the side and inside the ship, where it hit the opposite interior wall.

In his mind, in a brief flash of insight that can sometimes occur in a hectic situation having, Element realized that if anyone in the city was watching this with a video camera, they could put the footage on youtube and Sam Raimi could use every move he'd just made against the robot as a basis for the moves of the Sandman character that he'd been talking about putting in his third Spider-Man movie.

Shaking this random thought from his mind, Element turned to the other robot, now slashing its sharp fingers at him. Element ducked his head back, and rammed the robot with a sand pile driver, sending it skidding across the top of the ship. He then turned this pile driver on the roof of the ship and smashed a large hole in the top. He dropped down through this hole into the ship interior.

He looked around for Raven, seeing her towards the front of the ship, just in front of the door that he assumed led to the pilot area. She was held in some kind of containment field. A ring of metal, maybe five inches thick and ten feet in diameter stood on some kind of tripod. Raven's arms and legs were wrapped with those glowing purple elastic tentacles that had snatched her from the beach, keeping her tied to the ring. The ring itself gave off a purple glow that formed a bubble of energy around Raven, obviously a kind of force field. He wasn't sure if Raven was conscious, but he did here her moan weakly, telling him that she was still alive. The glow of the restraints, the force field, the ring… it was like whatever energy they were putting off was draining Raven of her strength, exhausting her. A perfect way to keep her prisoner.

Element walked towards her, already trying to think of a way to break whatever that device was holding her and get her out of here. Behind him, he heard a thud and whirled around to see the other robot having just dropped through the hole he'd smashed in the roof. It charged forward and thrust a punch at the boy, and Element let it. Its mechanical hand passed right through Element's chest and out his back, spraying the sand it had displaced from its passing.

The robot just stared Element in the face as he sneered at it, and formed his right hand into a large, rocky, sandstone fist and punched the robot in the stomach. The mechanical ninja was knocked right into the back of the ship and through the door, busting it open and spinning away into the air. Element reformed his hand back to normal, mentally noting that he'd just given Sam Raimi even more material.

Element turned back around and stood in front of Raven's restraining field. It infuriated him to see her like this, helpless and bound. Maybe she'd seen how this thing worked.

"Raven? Can you hear me? Can you speak?" he asked her. Raven seemed to mumble tiredly, but he could not tell what she'd said, if anything.

Unknown to Element, the robot he had first knocked into the ship was still active, and was now slowly rising to its feet, about to fulfill its programmed instructions. Now that the target was inside the ship, it would activate the device its master had put in place for just this moment. It reached out and touched a red button along the wall. From the walls to either side of Raven's containment unit came a force that Slade had known was something that Element absolutely could not form to. It had no actual substance, no real energy particle, no chemical reaction, nothing to form to. Something even Element would be helpless against… sound waves.

With a physical force from a sound so magnified that it didn't affect the ears with a sound so much as vibrate everything around it, the sound waves caught Element in a crossfire and impacted on him, knocking him to his knees and into unconsciousness almost instantly. The robot then activated a signal emitter in its wrist, letting its master and the pilot robot of the ship know that the objective had been completed.

The ship then boosted up to its maximum speed, which it had deliberately held back so that Element would catch up, and blasted out of Terra's range of sight in seconds.

"What the heck?!" she exclaimed, stunned that it could have gotten away from them at any point but hadn't. She didn't have her regular clothes on, and so didn't have her communicator. She had no way of contacting Element to see if he was alright or what was going on. With the ship no where in sight, she didn't even know where to go to find them. Shocked at this unexpected turn of events, Terra did the only thing she saw that she could do. She turned around and surfed her levitating rock back to where the other Titans had been on the beach, to report this to Robin.

-----

Robin was just finishing getting his gloves on when Terra came swooping down at them. He, Beast Boy and Starfire were all back in their regular clothing. Terra was the only one still in her swimsuit.

"Where's Element and Raven?" Robin demanded, seeing that she was alone. He didn't like the look on her face.

"I don't know. Element got to the ship, but then it sped up and just vanished. There was no way I could follow it. I don't know where they've gone." she explained, looking down at her feet, feeling like a failure. Beast Boy moved close to her and squeezed her hand.

"Great!" Robin shouted, although it was clear that Terra was not the target of his anger. "Slade decided to strike right when we were most vulnerable. We let ourselves get lazy because of the lack of crime rates. And Gamer being gone got us all down and we dropped our guard. Now he has two of our most powerful members and who knows what he'll do with them. And we know he'll use them as hostages if we tried to rescue them. Not that we can, because we don't have the slightest clue where Slade's new lair is!" Robin bellowed, rage over Slade's latest victory making him nearly see red. Starfire wanted to put her arms around him and tell him that it was not his fault for not foreseeing this, but felt that now was not a moment when he'd accept such consolation.

Suddenly, the Titans all heard a beeping sound. They looked over to one of the fallen robots that littered the beach after their successful battle with them. The eye slits in its metal face were flashing red. Robin reached down and pulled the faceplate away, revealing a screen underneath. The screen crackled to life, filling with the maddeningly familiar image of the madman they all knew too well.

"Well, hello Titans. Enjoying your day at the beach?" Slade asked in mock politeness. Robin hissed through his teeth.

"Slade, cut the garbage and get to what you need to say! Where are our friends?! Why have you taken them and what are you going to do with them?!" he demanded.

"Temper, temper Robin. There's no need to get so upset about it. I have no intention of hurting Raven or Element, at least not yet. I took Raven to lure Element away from the rest of you so I could capture him. And I only captured him as bait. I have a message I want you to deliver." he said, all business now.

"Whatever it is, no deal. We're not going to be your messengers. We want our friends back!" Robin roared. Slade's cold gray eye narrowed menacingly.

"You will if you want your friends to live. Capturing them was simply the easiest way to accomplish my ends, but I'll find another means to that end if you don't cooperate, and you can scrape the bodies of your friends off of whatever sidewalk I decided to dump them on. Now pay attention." he ordered. The Titans drew in closer around the screen, ready to hear Slade's "message."

"I want you to find your friend, the Gamer, and tell him that I have his brother and his brother's precious birdie. If he wants Element and Raven to be released, and consequently to live, he will return to Jump City immediately. He will enter the sewer system at a point of his choosing, and will receive further instructions from there. He is to come alone. If any of you or the police attempt to follow him, I will have your friends executed immediately. And I do have thermal scanners, so no turning into any insects, Beast Boy." Slade said pointedly, with a look at the green Titan.

"We don't know where Gamer is. He split from here two weeks ago." Cyborg said reasonably, trying to keep Slade talking so they could get more information.

"I would suggest that you do your very best to find him and give him my message. He has forty-eight hours from the end of this transmission to enter the Jump City sewer system. If he does not… well, you know the consequences. Oh, and tell the game player one last thing; if I am forced to dispose of his brother and Raven, my next guests will be his parents. You have my message and my terms. See that they are carried out, or begin picking out headstones for your friends." Then Slade cut the transmission and the screen went black.

-----

Gotham City. Organized crime capital of America, possibly the world. Home to the world's second most famous superhero, and most famous superhero sidekick. Gamer had always wanted to come see the place that was home to the man himself. Not to mention Robin. So far, it was as cool as he'd expected. He just wished he was here under other circumstances.

The Gamer and Blackfire were having dinner together at one of Gotham's medium level restaurants. It wasn't fancy and expensive, but it wasn't just some greasy café either. Gamer was really hungry and had quickly consumed his fish and shrimp platter like it was serious business. Blackfire wasn't all that hungry lately, so she mostly just pushed her food around on her plate, taking a few little nibbles here and there.

She was staring out the window, even more subdued now than she had been weeks ago living with the Titans. To see her now, it would be almost impossible to picture the same arrogant and criminally liable girl who had once given Starfire so much trouble upon her first arrival on earth. That part of her personality had been severely beaten during the many months of her banishment from Tamaran, and had been almost completely shattered from her second visit. At first it had been because she'd simply had no where to go and didn't want to ruin her free stay with the Teen Titans.

But now, the main reason for her new, more mellow attitude was sitting right across from her stuffing his handsome face. Over the last two weeks of being alone together across the country, Blackfire had begun to feel even closer to Gamer than she had before. He was her friend, no doubt. Her very deepest friend, and the only true one she'd ever had. He stood up for her and defied his family and friends for her sake, all because he truly believed that she was a good person inside and was just never given a chance to let that person out.

For the last two weeks, she had not disappointed him. They had flown here and there, not really sure where to go, sleeping in hotels and motels, all for free as everyone recognized him as one of the new Titans and thought she was Starfire with a new look. Having spent all that time together, Blackfire came to see Gamer as the only one there for her, and he now literally was. And from that, she'd begun to have real feelings for him. Not only out of gratitude. If that was all it had been, she would have buried that right away, as that was nothing to base genuine interest on.

No, she had begun to have feelings for the kind, generous, energetic teenage boy that he really was. Selfless, yet ambitious. Steady, but always seeking adventure. He had told her during the first few weeks of her arrival of his interest in her sister, and how he had lost the competition for her feelings to Robin. He had handled that maturely enough and stepped aside with no fuss, keeping any regret deep inside and not letting it affect his friendship with either of them. That was the behavior of a guy that was nearly one of a kind these days, on any world. And even though he was nearly two years younger than her, Blackfire could not deny that he was pretty attractive in the physical sense as well. He had a little bit of muscle going to him, and a handsome face. She'd found herself staring at him on more than one occasion, which he fortunately had not noticed.

But this evening, she was not dwelling on Gamer so much as on Starfire. Blackfire had been giving serious thought to what Gamer had told her, about Starfire's desire for them to be regular sisters, even now. That Starfire would be the first to forgive her for her past sins and would be willing to start anew, and make up for all their lost time that they could have had in their childhood. If she really was changing into the kind of person that both Gamer and Starfire believe she could be, and she personally felt that she was doing just that, then maybe it would be possible to get that sister bond back after all. The longer they were drifting around, the more she felt her old habits slipping away, and the more she grew to care about Gamer as more than just her only friend, the more Blackfire wanted to make things right with Starfire. After all this time, after how far she was coming along in proving Gamer right, she began to feel that Starfire deserved that for all she had put her through. And maybe, just maybe, Blackfire herself deserved that too.

"Still not hungry?" the Gamer asked. Blackfire turned to him and smiled guiltily.

"No, I'm sorry. I've just been thinking too much lately." she admitted, staring out the window that their table was next to. She and Gamer had arrived in Gotham yesterday, and he had explained to her that it was where Robin had come from before he moved to Jump City, and that his mentor, a legendary crime fighter called Batman still lived here. Blackfire wondered what the fuss was about, as she didn't see much taking place around here for this to be considered a crime hotspot. Apparently, the majority of crimes that took place in this city were more underworld crimes, so it all seemed ok on the surface.

It was getting dark out now, and suddenly, Blackfire saw a bright light shine into the sky, against some of the clouds that were scattered here and there. It had a symbol in the middle of this circular patch of light.

"What's that?" she asked, wondering what it was and why it was there. Gamer looked and his eyebrows went up and he raised his sunglasses for a better look.

"That's the Bat light. The signal they use to summon Batman to a crime scene." he explained. Blackfire raised one of her eyebrows as well.

"Really? They just shine a light in the sky and he comes?" she asked, not quite believing it. Gamer nodded.

"Yep. He sees the light and just goes to it. Nobody can figure out how he does it." At that moment, a loud rumbling and roaring sound filled the air. The other customers in the restaurant looked around, mumbling to themselves. Suddenly, in the street outside, a black armored vehicle shot into view and just as quickly disappeared down the street, a jet of flame shooting out the back of it from it's rocket propulsion system.

"Wow, and there he goes!" Gamer exclaimed excitedly, having just witnessed the Batmobile drive past the restaurant.

"Cool car." Blackfire said, not knowing what else to say. After a moment, the mood inside the restaurant settled down again, and Gamer, finished with his meal, slumped a little in his seat.

"Maybe Batman has an opening for a new sidekick. I really don't have anything to do right now and I want to get back to fighting crime." he said with a sigh. Blackfire frowned a little in guilt. He was not doing what he felt he should be doing because of her. She looked up at him again.

"Gamer, we can go back to Jump City if you want." she said. He looked up at her, raising his eyebrows. She nodded. "We've been away for two weeks now, and you've spent that whole time looking out for me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You've given up everything for me. You shouldn't have to do it any longer. I can find a place to settle down for a while. I can promise you that I won't cause anyone any trouble. I wouldn't do that to you now. And you can go back to be with the Titans again. After they feel that enough time has gone by for me to have been rehabilitated, you can invite me back. If… if you wanted to that is." she said, hope in her voice in that last part. Or had Gamer only imagined it? Either way, he shook his head.

"No Blackfire. I'm not going back unless you come with me, and the others need to know that." She was about to object but Gamer waved his hand to silence her. "I know you feel bad about us being out her. Like you're responsible for it. But I made my choice. I believe in you, and I know that Starfire does too. I guarantee you that she respects my decision. Until I can prove to the others that you've earned your place here on earth, I'm sticking with you. You're my friend, and I'm a superhero. I'm going to help you through this, no matter what." he said, smiling at her.

Blackfire would have hugged him had he not been on the other side of the table. He truly did care about her, and she suspected that like herself, he cared about her as a bit more than just a close friend. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part. Either way, he had her best interests at heart, and he was willing to make a few sacrifices for a while until she got on her feet. She could not thank him enough. Well, not for the time being anyway.

Suddenly, his communicator beeped. He pulled it out of his belt and stared at it, as did Blackfire. A few hours ago, Gamer had gotten a bad feeling in his mind. Like something was going to happen. So, for the first time since he'd left Titans Tower, he'd turned his communicator on, just in case. If nothing happened for a day or two, he'd turn it off again. And now, only a few hours later, it was activating. Score one for gut instinct. He pressed the button.

"Hello?" he said. Robin's face appeared, looking upset about something.

"Gamer, where are you?" Robin asked, nearly demanded. Gamer could tell that it was something serious, and so told Robin what he wanted to know.

"I'm in Gotham City. Why?" he asked.

"It's Slade. He's captured Element and Raven." Robin informed him. Gamer stood up so suddenly that he knocked his chair over. The other patrons of the restaurant all turned to look at the commotion.

"He_what_?! Element and Raven?! What did he do to them?!" Gamer nearly shouted, drawing more attention. Blackfire stood up too, moving next to Gamer.

"Slade's taken them prisoner and told us to give a message to you. That you need to come to Jump right away and enter the sewer system, wherever you want. Slade said you'd get further instructions from there. And that if you don't get here in less than forty-eight hours, he's going to kill them and then go after your parents next." Robin relayed the message.

Gamer visibly paled at this news. Blackfire bit her lower lip and rubbed her upper forearm.

"Why is he asking for me? What does he want from me?" Gamer asked, sounding almost desperate. He remembered his chat with Slade a while back on the night Gamer had followed Robin and Starfire on their date that ended in their official coupling. Slade had known exactly who he and Element were and who their parents were. He knew that Slade's threat was absolutely real.

"We don't know. But you need to hurry up and get back here to find out. Oh, and one last thing. We can't help you. You go in alone or he kills them right off the bat." Robin said in frustration.

"And you aren't going to follow that rule, are you?" Gamer asked, suspecting that Robin was hatching a plan of his own.

"We're not sure what we're going to do, but you're right, we're not sitting this one out. We'll help you, somehow. Until then, just get back here on the double and go in after Slade. Robin out." and cut the transmission.

Gamer put his communicator back into his belt and headed for the exit, Blackfire following two steps behind. As they exited, Gamer looked into the sky for a second, then turned to Blackfire.

"Blackfire, I want you to stay here until I come back." he said. Blackfire's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Gamer, are you crazy?! You told me about this Slade guy and his dealings with the Titans. He scores a twelve on an evil scale of one to ten. You're going to go off and actually face him alone? No way! I'm coming with you!" she said with finality. But Gamer just smiled a little and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Blackfire, the message said that I come alone. Element is my brother, and Raven is the girl of his dreams that he's always hoped for. I've got to try and help them, even if it means giving in to Slade a little. At first. I don't intend on going along with anything else he thinks he's going to have me do. It's obvious now that he wants me more than Element, and who knows for what. But I have to do this in order to save them. Besides…" he then lifted his hand to her chin, stroked it gently with his thumb for a second, before a look of alarm crossed his face and he lowered his hand back to her shoulder, blushing like mad and clearly afraid that she would retaliate. "I don't want something happening to you too while it's going on. I'll come right back when it's over, this doesn't change anything. So I want you to stay here in Gotham and wait for me to return. Can you do that for me, please?" he asked, pleading with her.

Blackfire relented upon seeing how important it was to him that she stay here, and that he really did want her safe, as well as to follow the instructions that would help save Raven and his brother. He had let his feelings slip into the open for the first time, and had hid them away again almost instantly, for fear that she'd take it the wrong way. In truth, she was flattered, and a bit excited. He felt the same way after all.

"Alright. I'll wait for you. But I want your word that you will be as careful as you can be and to make it back to me here, ok." she said, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. He returned the hug, putting his arms around her thin waist.

"I promise." he said simply. She then took in a deep breath and released him. He smiled at her, lowered his sunglasses, then ran out to the middle of the street.

Pulling out his Nintendo 64 controller, he began pushing the buttons and rotating the thumb stick in an unfollowable pattern, before finally hitting the start button. Becoming bathed in the signature bright light, Blackfire shielded her eyes, thinking that she saw some kind of movement in the light. When it cleared, a VTOL fighter jet from_Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas_ was parked on the street. The engines fired up and it began to make its way down the asphalt road, which was mercifully devoid of traffic at the moment. After gaining enough speed, the jet lifted into the air and the Gamer blasted off to the west, in the direction of the setting sun and Jump City.

As she watched him go, Blackfire brought her hands up to her chest and felt her beating heart. She prayed to whatever higher being may watch over the universe that Gamer would be alright and that he would be successful in his rescue attempt.

"Gamer, please come back to me."

* * *

Wow. That's the longest one I've written yet, I think. Well, that's thirteen down, two more to go folks.

Yes, I borrowed themes from _The Mummy_ as mentioned, and _Spider-Man 3_, which was not expressly mentioned, but hinted at. All of Element's movements in the sand battle are identical to the movement so of the Sandman when he fought Spider-Man in the armored car scene. I love that scene the most out of that movie and so wanted Element to do that when he did the sand fight, which was already going to be in before _Spider-Man_ _3_ came out. It was only going to be based on the sand cloud from _The Mummy_ originally, but I wanted to throw that in too.

Next chapter, probably the longest one of the whole story. The Gamer gets back to Jump City and works his way into Slade's lair. The full extend of Slade's diabolical plan is finally revealed, and it's much worse than anything anyone could have predicted. The other Titans manage to get in on the action, but between Slade, Cinderblock, Plasmus, an army of robots, Raven and Element as hostages _and_ Slade's "ultimate weapon", things are looking as bad as they've ever been since The End arc of season 4. Just as all hope of victory seems lost, a final bit of assistance comes from a source the Titans never expected to get it from. And for the first time since this story began, it looks like the Titans might just have a chance to take Slade down for good this time. The main plot of the story that's been hinted at for two years comes full circle with Element and the Gamer chapter 14: Divine Wrath. See you guys then!


	14. Divine Wrath

Element and the Gamer

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Since I don't know who's still following this story from when it first started, mainly due to my lack of updating for almost a year, I'm just going to say that thanks go out to everyone who ever gave this fic their blessing. Thank you for appreciating this, my second fic, and giving me the drive to keep going this far, albeit a little late.

Gamer Disclaimer: _Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell_ does not belong to me. Divine Wrath is in fact my own idea. Teen Titans does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter 14: Divine Wrath

The Gamer soared over Jump City, still in his jet form that he'd left Gotham City in. Banking over the outer areas of the city, he began to descend, until he was as low as he could go without hitting some of the buildings in the area, most of which weren't any higher than two stories in this part of town. Becoming bathed in white light, the jet disappeared and Gamer himself reemerged, falling towards the ground below. He stuck his game controller into the air and the cord lashed out of it, grabbing onto the top of the closest building and stopping Gamer's fall just as he was but a few inches from hitting the ground with bone shattering force.

The cord extended, lowering him to the ground like one of Robin's grappling hook guns, and then unwrapped itself from the ledge of the building and pulled itself back inside the controller. Gamer was back, and now he had to get into the sewers and try to find Slade's newest underground lair. But he wasn't going to simply wait for instructions once he got down there. He was going to begin his search for Element and Raven right off. No doubt Slade had some sort of monitors scanning the whole city for his arrival and would send something out to greet him once he detected that he was in the sewers. Gamer was going to go in the direction that it came from, whether it was a robot or some other mobile device Slade sent to him, and would go from there. He'd search under the whole city if he had to. Raven and his brother needed his help and he would not let them down.

Walking into the street, he approached one of the manholes. He pointed his controller at it, and its cord shot out again, the plug at the end going into the hole in the manhole cover that workers put crowbars through to lift the lid. With a flick, the cord flipped the lid into the air where it turned end over end before noisily crashing back to the street. Below him was a ladder, leading down. The awful smell of sewer wafted up at him, but Gamer held his gorge down. He'd grow accustomed to it soon enough. He began descending the ladder, deliberately leaving the manhole uncovered, so that the other Titans might be able to find him.

As he reached the bottom of the ladder, he stepped off onto the walkway on this side of the sewer tunnel, which was made to allow workers to navigate their way through this place. Two walkways on either side, the filthy sewer water in the middle, a few crossing bridges here and there to allow travel from one side to the other.

It was very dark, the only light coming from the open manhole above him. Gamer knew that Slade had probably placed surveillance down here to let him know when Gamer entered, somehow. Otherwise, he'd have told Gamer to go to a specific place. All the same, Gamer did not intend to just stand there waiting. He was going to need stealth if he intended to hide from Slade's forces when they got to him, and to sneak into Slade's lair if he found it. And he knew what the best choice for stealth was. Pulling out his controller and doing his usual thing with the buttons and thumb stick, Gamer activated the transformation and was bathed in the usual light. The sewer was briefly lit up like a searchlight being turned on in a dark room. When the light subsided, Gamer stood there in his new form.

He was a few inches taller, being the size of a full grown man. He was wearing a completely black, form-fitting suit which was clearly meant for stealth purposes. He had a belt, a shoulder strap that went across his torso and a pistol on his right hip equipped with a silencer. Across his back was another gun, an automatic rifle equipped with silencer and sniper scope. His face was not covered by his suit, and was left exposed, revealing a man in his early to mid-fifties and the stubble of a gray beard beginning to grow. On top of his head, the feature that stood out the most, were a set of goggles. There were two lenses that went over the eyes, and a third that would position over the forehead of the wearer, between the two eye lenses. These were goggles that allowed for both night vision and thermal vision, as well as enhanced zooming.

He was Sam Fisher from _Splinter Cell_, the game developed off of an idea by best-selling novelist Tom Clancy. Pulling the goggles down over his eyes and activating the night vision mode, the Splinter Cell stepped out of the light cast from the open manhole above him and moved into the shadows of the sewer tunnel, taking the steps that marked the beginning of the final battle in the war against Slade.

--

Cyborg's right arm began to emit a beeping sound. The Titans all turned to look at him as he studied the display on his forearm. His human eye widened and a slight grin spread over his lips. He lowered his arm and looked around at the rest of the team.

"Gamer is back in town!" he said with excitement. Starfire, Beast Boy and Terra all smiled widely up hearing this. Robin raised an eyebrow.

"How did you know he's back?" he asked. Cyborg pointed to his arm.

"Just yesterday I managed to finish adjusting my scanners to pick up the specific frequency Gamer gives off whenever he turns into a videogame. It only works within a certain perimeter, so he's just changed into a game character inside the city limits." He informed them. Starfire clasped her hands together.

"Wonderful! Our friend has returned." she beamed. Beast Boy had to agree, but he also knew that the Gamer wasn't back for a social call.

"If he's back, that means he's heading to the sewers to deal with Slade." he said. Terra nodded at this.

"Yeah, he'll try to rescue Element and Raven. He has no idea what Slade might have waiting for him. He's going to need our help." she reasoned. Starfire was not so certain about that.

"But Slade made it very clear that if we attempt to aid Gamer, he will harm our friends. What are we to do?" she asked, her mood changing very quickly from happy to despairing. But Robin was already thinking about their course of action. He had a hand on his chin, in deep thought, when a cunning smile spread over his face.

"Slade said we couldn't join Gamer when he got into the sewers. But, if we just happened to find our own way down there and try to confront him, _separate_ from Gamer's attempt, it would hardly count as going against his terms." the masked boy said slyly. The others brightened again.

"Good thinking Robin." Beast Boy commended. "We go in on our own little mission." he said, beaming again and ready for action. Terra was still a little uncertain.

"But we will still need to find his lair. We don't know where to look." she stated. Robin frowned and looked at Cyborg.

"Can you use your scanner to track Gamer?" he asked. Cyborg nodded.

"Yeah. I can sketch out a map of the sewer system in my processor and guide us along based on Gamer's progress." the cybernetic Titan stated. Robin nodded, his expression becoming dead serious.

"Alright then. We go in, we follow Gamer, and we take Slade down once and for all." he said. Beast Boy clenched his fists, thinking about Raven and Element in Slade's clutches, Gamer walking into what was undoubtedly a trap.

"We're coming guys."

--

Slade's own scanners had already detected the Gamer's presence in the sewer system. Watching on his monitors as the Gamer slowly made his way through the tunnels, Slade smiled beneath his mask. His target was in sight and right on schedule. No doubt he'd be expecting some form of attack or trap. He'd have to send out some of his minions just to keep the Gamer from getting too suspicious that this was no ordinary bait trap. In his hand he held a remote device. Pressing a button on it he activated a group of his robotic minions in the area closest to the Gamer and sent them to intercept.

Turning around, he walked to the back of the large, cavernous room that was half rock and half metal. Gears turned overhead and along some of the walls. Reaching the back of the room, he stood in front of his two young "guests". Raven was still held suspended in her captivity rack. Knowing her powers like he did, Slade had to keep the psionic bonds on her at all times, keeping her too drained and weak to use her powers. The tentacles that held her still emitted their purple glow, signaling the constant draining over her energy down to a particular level, just enough to keep her from dying, but also to keep her from fighting back.

Next to her hung Element, glaring down at Slade. He'd said very little since being brought here, his rare moments of speech being mainly to release Raven. Fat chance of that happening.

While Robin's training allowed him to be the hardest Titan to beat in combat, Starfire was the strongest and had the highest power magnitude and the Gamer had the potential to be better than both of them if guided right, these particular two, Raven and Element, were the most dangerous of the Titans. Their powers were so unique and versatile and they themselves were so pragmatic that in a battle against them, Slade had a lesser chance of survival than if he fought all the other Titans at once.

There was no way either of them was going to be freed for even a moment. At least, until he owned the Gamer, at which time it would no longer matter.

Element himself was being held suspended in a bubbled of high-frequency sound waves being generated by devices along the wall. It had actually taken Slade a while to figure out how to imprison a being who could absorb and become any form of matter, energy or chemical reaction. How would he be able to capture and hold onto such a person?

The answer, then, was something that was neither matter, energy, nor a chemical reaction. Since sound was simply the vibration of existing matter, Element could transform into the oxygen inside that bubble if he wanted. But there would still be no escaping it, as the constant vibration of the air from the sound waves created an almost literal physical barrier. There was a small break in the sound generation, only a quarter of a second every second, enough to let oxygen into the bubble to allow Element to breath, but too quick for him to get out or to fall. The sound being generated was so high-pitched that human ears could not hear it, so there was no annoying noise to bother Slade either.

"So, you got my brother here after all. I hope you're ready for the amount of trouble that you've brought down on yourself." Element said down to him, not trying to sound threatening or overly brave, merely relaying a fact. Slade nodded to the boy.

"I have not spent these last few months preparing for nothing, I assure you. I am quite aware of how powerful your brother is and how much trouble he may cause me. At first, anyway. But know that by the end of this day, I will own him, and after that I will be able to do anything I want and no one will be able to stop me. You should feel honored, Element. You and Raven are the final keys to one of the most brilliant plans ever conceived. And after today, your brother will be the most powerful force in this universe. At least, in the literal sense. Since I will have complete control over him, that will technically make me the most powerful."

"You'll never control Gamer." Element said. He said it so plainly, so sure of his statement, so final, that for a brief moment Slade almost believed him. Maybe this plan wasn't such a good idea after all. If anything went wrong, chances were good that by the end of this day he'd be dead. Again. And this time, it was unlikely that he'd be coming back.

But he'd always known that anyway. The bigger the risk, the greater the reward and all that. Since he'd already been dead, continuing to live seemed to get rather pointless. So either he'd have everything by the end of today, or lose everything. There was no other option. That was just fine by him.

"Oh, I think your brother is easier to control than you think, boy. All one needs to do is know exactly what he is dealing with. And, after careful study of the Gamer and yourself, I've come upon the solution." he stated. Element's curiosity was piqued, in spite of himself.

"When did you become so interest in us anyway?" he asked the madman. Slade answered him.

"I've been watching the Titans carefully since the defeat of Trigon. I was watching the day the two of you first came onto the scene and defeated the H.I.V.E. Five with ease. Such an impressive victory it was, that I tested you again with Cinderblock and Plasmus. The two of you showed great promise, but while you were the better fighter, the Gamer had a much greater potential hidden deep within him. It was then that I began to formulate the plan that I have set in motion here today."

"And just what plan is that?" Element asked sarcastically, not believing for a second that Slade would be able to control Gamer like he claimed. In answer, Slade walked over to his throne chair across the room, clicked a button on one of the armrests, and an object slid out. Slade picked it up and walked across the room to Element, and held the object up for him to see.

Upon seeing what Slade had in his hand, once it really settled into his brain as to what he was looking at, Element actually gasped in shock, his mouth falling open.

"No." Raven whispered in her containment unit beside him. Element and Slade both looked over to see her with her eyes barely open, a look of horror on her exhausted face. Then her head fell forward and she was unconscious again. She had actually managed to get out a word and a facial expression upon realizing Slade's plan; such was the monstrosity of it.

Element prayed that she was alright and that he'd find a way to get her out of here, then looked back down at Slade, anger over-shadowing his fear.

"I'd say you're insane, but we both know that's not true. And that makes you even worse. Is that what you've had Gizmo doing for you all this time?"

"Why yes. It took him a while to gather up the necessary supplies that he needed, but only two days ago he finished his work and served his purpose quite well." Slade told him. Something about the way Slade said it made Element wonder.

"Where is he now that he's done?" he asked. Slade said nothing and only continued to stare up at him. "You killed him, huh? Figures." Element stated. Slade's eye narrowed.

"To my credit, I had planned on letting him go. But, he told Jinx of our arrangement and lied to me in an attempt to avoid punishment. That made him a liability." Slade explained.

"In other words, he might have known something that could have helped us stop you, despite your big plan." Element translated. Slade smirked under his mask.

"You see much, boy. Like Robin, you are very well informed about how things work-" he stopped as he saw Element's masked eyes flick up to the monitors on the other side of the room for a quick second before looking back down at him. His gray eye narrowing, Slade turned around to look at the monitors.

The other Titans were on one of the far left screens, making their way through the sewers. So, Element had been trying to distract him with all that talk, to allow the other Titans to get as far as they could before he caught on. Clever boy.

Slade walked over to the screens and observed. It seemed that they were tracking the Gamer, somehow. Probably Cyborg's doing. Their movements coincided with his, even though they were on opposite sides of the city's sewer system. Also, they were slowly getting closer to where he was, block by block. They had gone against his order, but that was fine. That had all been a bluff, anyway; he'd known they were going to come down here after their two kidnapped teammates. The only issue now was making sure Gamer got to his lair before they did.

Slade used his remote and activated dozens of his robots and sent them in the Titans' direction. They would not stop them, but they'd be slowed down enough. He actually wanted them here in his lair after he had taken control of the Gamer. They'd be the first to fall under his final apprentice. All the same though, he also sent the signal out to Cinderblock and Plasmus, and summoned them to his lair. He might just need them, at least at first.

--

In the quiet of the sewer tunnel, the sensitivity of Sam Fisher's professional ears picked up the sound of stealthy movement. As a master of stealth himself, there was no mistaking that someone was trying to sneak upon his position from around the corner ahead. Thinking quickly, Gamer looked up and saw the group of pipes along the wall above. He jumped, grabbing onto them and then swung his feet up to grab on as well. Then he just hung there. He waited a minute or so, and sure enough, four of Slade's robotic ninjas rounded the corner ahead. They looked around and then slowly began to creep forward, moving very stealthily for machines, but then, that was what their design was for.

When they had walked beneath him and were heading down the way he had come, the Splinter Cell released the pipes with his legs and swung them down, then let go with his right hand, still holding onto the pipe with his left. He reached for the silenced pistol on his right hip and swung it up.

He knew that Robin was not fond of guns. He had forbid him from using characters that came with guns before. Unlike energy blasters, whose power could be regulated and whose shots moved slower through the air and were therefore easier to dodge and deflect, bullets were designed solely to be lethal. Dodging them was next to impossible, the same with deflecting them, and they could not be made to merely stun an enemy. If a stray shot missed, someone other than the target could be killed.

However, Robin was not here, these were only robots, there were no innocents down here who could be hurt by a miss, and he was technically not with the Titans at the moment anyhow. With that in mind, Gamer fired Same Fisher's pistol.

Four_ tcht_ sounds echoed quietly in the sewer. The four robots fell, a clean bullet hole in the back of each one's head. No missed shots. Gamer placed the pistol back in its leg holster and released the pipes from his left hand, dropping silently to the ground.

The robots had come from around that corner up ahead, so that was a hint that Slade's lair was probably in that general direction. Sure he could have had them stationed anywhere, but he had no better ideas.

As he rounded the corner, a sudden blue light lit up at his feet, causing him to jump back and draw his pistol. Looking down at the source of the illumination, he saw that it was a flashing blue arrow, pointing down the direction the robots had come from. Had the situation not had such high stakes, he would have laughed at the silliness of Slade's invitation. Placing the pistol back into its holster, he continued to move on.

--

Slade was impressed with the resourcefulness of the Gamer. He'd taken out his robots in two seconds, with no misses. The robots had left the pointer, and the others were in place, so Gamer would be arriving fairly soon, with no more obstructions until he got here.

Looking over to the screen where the other Titans were, he saw that his minions were about to spring upon them. That would be a relatively short battle. Terra alone could simply pull some bricks from the sewer walls and smash the robots in the head with them. But that was fine. Gamer was surely going to get here long before they did even without the delay. No need to pay any attention to them, even after they showed up. Things would be settled before then. Using his remote, he flicked that monitor off.

--

Robin held up his hand, motioning for the Titans to stop.

"Hold on." he, said. Listening closely, Robin waited to hear if the sound he thought he'd heard before would repeat itself. Nothing.

Frowning, Robin turned back to his team, who all leaned in close to hear, like a huddling football team. Cyborg's shoulder flashlight shined into the center of the group, making the darkness of the sewer seem to press in on them, like they were inside a bubble of light.

"Alright," Robin began," I thought I heard something up ahead. It might have been nothing, but since we're headed in the same general direction that Gamer seems to be headed, we have to assume that Slade's got some surprises waiting for us from here on in. Everyone be on extra alert and sound off if you see anything suspicious. Got it?" he looked around as each Titan nodded his or her understanding of the orders. Robin also nodded to them.

"Ok then, let's go." He turned around and found himself face to face with a Sladebot, one of the dozen or so that had snuck up on them while they huddled. Now Robin knew what that sound had been.

Without giving the Titans any chance to even yelp in surprise at being surrounded, the robots attacked. The Titans did not need to wait for a signal from Robin; they all began fighting at once.

Starfire took to the air in the limited sewer space, until she was almost touching the ceiling. Two of the robots leaped up at her, propelled by the great strength in their legs. She fired two starbolts, one at each robot's head. The two minions' heads exploded and their bodies were flung back down with the force of the impact, their useless bodies falling into the nasty water in the canal that ran down the center of the sewer tunnel.

One robot pounced on Cyborg's shoulders and attempted to pull his head off, while another grabbed him around the legs, trying to trip him. Struggling against them, Cyborg managed to reach up and pry the robot off of his shoulders and fling it over his body, slamming it hard into the wall. He then grabbed at the one wrapped around his knees and tried to roll the thing into a ball as best he could. He then kicked it away into the darkness, pieces falling from it.

And so on the battle went, similar results occurring each time. Terra simply removed two bricks from the wall in order to down her opponents. Beast Boy was in gorilla form and pummeling his two opponents into scrap. Robin was actually up against four of the robots, but with the help of his bo staff, took them down in classic Robin fashion; that is, with a flurry of kicks and a swinging staff that could knock a polar bear to its knees.

--

Slade had watched all of this on a few his monitors that were still on in that area and saw that the Titans were once again on their way towards him and would arrive soon. But it didn't matter. His true prey had arrived. Gamer didn't know that Slade was aware of him, knew that he was hiding in the shadows on a ledge just overhead, aiming his silenced pistol at him. Slade had known the minute he had entered his lair.

"Now Gamer, is that a polite way to greet your host? Shooting him in the back while he's unsuspecting? My, I thought Robin would have taught you better Titan behavior skills than that." Slade said with a slight chuckle, turning to look up at where he knew the Gamer was hiding.

Suddenly, something dark dropped from above and landed on the dirt floor. Gamer's Splinter Cell form stood to his full height, matching Slade in size and build. The gun was still aimed at Slade, but if the madman was concerned about it, he gave no notice. Gamer then placed the gun in its holster and was surrounded in his signature white light, before returning to his normal form, game controller in hand.

"Slade. We meet at last, face to face." Gamer said, a scowl on his face.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Slade asked, amused.

The Gamer looked around, taking in his surroundings for the battle that was to come and also looking for any sign of his brother and Raven. Seeing that the main room he was in was actually fairly large, he looked beyond Slade to the other end of the room and saw Element and Raven being held against the far wall. He could not tell if they were ok, but he suspected that Slade would wait until he'd dealt with him before getting to them, so Gamer believed that they still had a chance.

"Alright, you one-eyed creep, you got me here. Now just what is it you intend on doing with me?" he asked, not really caring what Slade thought he would do to him, because Gamer was about to change into the Purlin-Juggernaut and slice the masked man in two if he made one wrong move or said the wrong thing.

"Oh, I brought you here for a simple reason, Gamer." Slade said, his eye narrowing with his unseen grin. "I want to see you fight."

No sooner had Slade said this and Gamer began wondering if the man really was a nutcase than he heard two doors open up on either side of him. The rock and brick that this place seemed to be mostly made of was hidden in shadow in many areas and Gamer had not even noticed large doors on his left and right. Behind one door stood Cinderblock and behind the other stood Plasmus.

Not even giving them time to attack, Gamer input the commands into his controller and transformed into the Purlin-Juggernaut, nine feet of green alien gladiator from _Turok 2: Seeds of Evil_, and he charged at Cinderblock.

Raising the massive six foot long sword he wielded, Gamer swiftly charged toward the rocky giant, who growled a challenge and took a fighting stance. But Gamer was not going to attack him head on. Instead, he moved a little to Cinderblock's right as he ran and swung the flat side of the blade forward, whapping Cinderblock in the abdominal region as he ran past.

Cinderblock doubled over, crossing his arms over his aching stomach as Gamer spun around behind him. With a slurping roar, Plasmus was now charging forward, eager to pay the Gamer back for hurting and humiliating him in their first battle months ago.

Gamer pointed the blade at Plasmus' head and fired the blaster that was built into the grip of the sword. A light green blast of energy shot out and hit Plasmus right in his disgusting face, creating a large hole. Knowing that Plasmus would not go down so easily, Gamer lifted a single foot and placed it on Cinderblock's rocky butt, which was sticking up as the rock giant was still bent over from being hit.

With a strong shove/kick, Cinderblock was sent tumbling forward like a big bowling ball, rolling right into Plasmus and knocking both of them back into the wall, splattering Plasmus all over the place and embedding Cinderblock into the wall, upside down.

Turning to Slade, Gamer pointed the sword at him, more for dramatic emphasis than to shoot him with the blaster.

"_Now, it's your turn._" he said to Slade telepathically. But suddenly, from behind his back, Slade pulled out what appeared to be some sort of blaster gun weapon. Had any of the other Titans been in the room, they would have noticed that it looked a lot like the device that Slade had used to implant microprobes into their bodies two years before, only smaller, fitted onto a handgun, and the round part pointed forward instead of straight up.

"I wouldn't try anything daring, if I were you." Slade threatened, pointing the weapon towards the back of the room, directly at Raven and Element. Gamer lowered his sword to his side, backing down for the moment.

"_What do you want?_" Gamer demanded. Slade seemed to relax his arm a little, noticing that he now had Gamer's full attention.

"I want you to return to your normal form, for a start." he said calmly and eerily. Seeming to deflate a little with submission, Gamer was covered in light again and returned to his human form.

"There. Happy now?" he asked sarcastically. He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

"Yes, that's better. Now then, I want to show you two things before I let you know why I brought you here. But I have a feeling that after I show them to you, you'll figure out for yourself exactly why you are essential to me." Slade said, his eye flashing dangerously.

He motioned with the gun for Gamer to walk closer to the area where Element and Raven were held captive. As he got closer, he saw that Raven was unconscious, but that Element seemed to be awake and aware. He gave a little wave to him.

"Hey bro. How's it hanging?" he asked, trying to add a little humor to the situation, more to relieve his own nervousness than to cheer Element up.

"How do you think?" Element responded in his usual voice, not sounding like he was really concerned at their predicament, even though Gamer knew better. "I was hoping you wouldn't be dumb enough to actually come, but I guess miracles really don't happen." Gamer frowned, indignant.

"Hey, I flew across the country to get here and save Raven, not to mention your sorry butt, so at least act like you're glad I'm here." he whined. Element's front of agitation faded.

"I am glad. But you shouldn't have come. Listen to me, no matter what he threatens, do _not_ do what he tells you to do. Believe me, nothing is worth it, not even our lives." he said urgently.

"That's enough from you." Slade said to Element. Pushing Gamer further along, Slade led him in front of his throne chair and told him to stay put. Slade approached the chair and pressed two buttons, opening compartments on either side of it. He reached into one and pulled out a remote control.

"This will activate an electrical current around your friends' restraints. Raven and your brother will both die if I push this button even once, because once is all it will need. The amount of electricity that will go through them is enough to kill them in a second. And make no mistake; I _will_ kill them if you do not cooperate." Slade said menacingly, making sure Gamer was aware in no uncertain terms that he was not bluffing in any way.

Gamer knew what Element told him, but come on, that was his brother and Raven up there! He couldn't let Slade kill them, even if it meant he had to serve him. At least he'd know they were alive. How would he live with himself even if he defeated Slade if he lost them in the process? Besides, how bad could whatever Slade wanted him to do possibly be? He'd go along with it and give Robin and the others time to rescue their friends, and then he'd put Slade away for good.

Slade then placed the remote onto his belt and reached into the other compartment on his chair and pulled something else out. Gamer thought he could tell what it was, but it didn't make any sense, so he thought he must have just been mistaken. But the Slade stepped closer to him, holding it up for him to see, and Gamer knew that he was not mistaken. It was so absurd that it took all the willpower he had not to laugh.

Slade was holding a videogame case. On the cover of it, it showed the outline of a human being, a man or teenaged boy it seemed, standing in an aura of intense white/yellow light. There were no other details than that; just that it was a person radiating some kind of energy. Written across the bottom of the case were the words _Divine Wrath_.

"A videogame? Are you kidding?" Gamer asked, letting out a chuckle despite himself. But Slade only nodded.

"Yes, this is my own personal videogame, created just for me by Gizmo. It is one of a kind, and as a game player, I am sure that it intrigues you." Slade held the game up again and shook it a little, like he was trying to lure a dog into coming closer to him by wiggling a steak in front of it.

"It is called _Divine Wrath_, and it is a very interesting game. You see, when played, the player controls a teenage boy who is called Wrath. Wrath has a power so great it can only be referred to as divine due to lack of a better term. Wrath's power gives him the ability to do literally anything he wants. _Anything_ he can imagine. Even bend and alter space and time if he wishes." Slade continued describing the game.

Gamer's eyes widened at this information. At first he was surprised as to why anyone would make a game staring a character that clearly could not be beaten by anything if he had such power. What was the point to such a game? But an idea of what Slade was getting at started to form in his head. And while he never suspect what Slade said next, it only helped to confirm his growing fear.

"And the best part," Slade continued, "is that I am also a character in this game. Just as I described to Gizmo, he designed the game with myself as a sort of coach character who would tell the player what to do. The Wrath character is designed to follow my instructions and obey me fully." Slade's eye narrowed, knowing that he'd said all the clues he needed to and now only waiting for Gamer to say it himself.

Gamer's mouth hung open in shock from what he had heard.

"You want me to turn into Wrath so you can command me. And with Wrath's power, I can do anything you tell me to do." He said this in a quiet voice, shocked beyond belief at the genius of Slade's plan.

Now it was all clear as to why Slade had wanted him. All he'd had to do was make a videogame character for him to turn into and have that character be programmed to obey Slade. And since his game controller was supernaturally gifted, it held the code to transform him into Wrath the moment the game had been completed, and had relayed that command telepathically into Gamer's mind. All he had to do was choose to try putting in the code and it would come to him automatically, even though he'd never done it before.

Knowing that Gamer had finally grasped the reality of the situation, Slade set the game aside and pulled the remote from his belt.

"Transform into Wrath, Gamer. Do it now, or I will kill Element and Raven."

"Don't you do it, Gamer!" Element shouted to his brother. Next to him, Raven moaned, partially awake and somewhat knowing what was going on, but powerless to help stop it. If she could she'd have flung Gamer's controller into another dimension at that point, and she was pretty sure he'd let her do it, knowing what was now at stake.

Gamer stood clenching his fists. If he changed, Slade would command him to do whatever he wanted. He could control or even destroy the entire universe with that power. Gamer couldn't let him do that, but there was always a chance for hope. A chance that something would mess up Slade's plan and he'd be defeated, with Element and Raven still alive. He couldn't ignore that chance and watch them die for it. Whether it was the weak choice or not, he simply couldn't do it.

"Promise me that you will let them go once I've changed." he demanded of Slade, knowing that there was nothing to make him follow such an arrangement, but giving it a try nonetheless. Slade slowly nodded his head.

"Agreed. Now transform." Slade ordered.

Gamer slowly raised the controller, glaring hate at Slade the entire time. With a final look to Element, whose fate lay in his hands, he began to put in the command, pressing buttons and rotating the thumb-stick. Finally, he pressed the start button on the controller, and was consumed in light.

Element watched his brother transform, only this time, unlike all the others, Gamer did not appear when the light faded, because the light didn't fade, at least not completely. It faded enough to show the outline of a human being at the center of the radiating light, but that was all. The light continued to shine forth, as if it was coming _from_ the being in the center rather than from _around_ him.

Suddenly, a wave of energy swept the room, knocking Slade back a few steps, blowing dust all around, and disrupting the sound generators and energy rack that held Element and Raven captive. Element fell to the dirt floor and picked himself up, coughing a little. Turning around, he formed into the wall and traveled up to where he was level with Raven and began prying the tentacles away from her with rock arms.

Slade looked upon his new servant with awe. He knew how it was going to turn out, but he hadn't expected it to feel so magnificent. Here was the ultimate power in the universe, and providing that Gizmo had done his job as he was supposed to, it was all under his control. Now would be a good time to test it, but how?

On the other side of the room, Cinderblock and Plasmus lurched into view, having pulled themselves up from where Gamer had slammed them to see what all the commotion was. Slade's eye narrowed as he saw them. Perfect. They would provide an excellent example, and if it turned out that his new servant did as he was supposed to, he would no longer need those two anyway.

"Wrath." Slade called, to get his attention. Wrath turned his head, not so different from the Gamer's other than that glowing light, and looked at Slade. "Destroy Cinderblock and Plasmus." Slade ordered simply.

"Yes, Master." Wrath replied. His was quiet, subdued, even sad. Like he knew he was under Slade's command and did not want to be. Understandable, since Gamer was conscious of himself in all of his game forms and typically controlled them completely. Now he knew he was under his enemy's command.

Wrath turned his head and looked at Cinderblock and Plasmus. The two monsters' eyes had gone wide upon hearing Slade's order, and they were actually trembling a little, waiting to see what the glowing boy would do.

Element meanwhile had managed to pry Raven free of the broken containment unit she was held in and slipped out of the wall to find a place to put her. Raven lay limp in his arms, not moving. The energy field that sapped her of her strength was gone and so she would be fine, but she was so drained of energy that she would probably be unconscious for a while. Finding a dark corner of the lair far away from where the action was taking place, Element set Raven down. He made sure to put her in a comfortable position and briefly kissed her forehead, hoping she'd be safe while he went to go deal with the situation. Turning around, Element headed back to where Slade and Gamer were.

Wrath raised a hand toward the two monsters, palm facing up, as if to invite someone to observe them. Slade half expected him to say "behold" with the way he seemed to be indicating them with his hand. But Wrath said nothing. He merely held his hand out toward the two monsters for a moment.

Suddenly, Cinderblock and Plasmus both squeezed their eyes shut as if they were in great pain. They both began to bellow and clutch at themselves and a moment later there was a big -poof- sound and they both simply dissolved into ashes. Their fluffy, charred remains floated in the air, seeming to swirl around in a little tornado of ash. Then it dissipated and the ash itself dissolved into little curls of smoke, and within seconds, all traces of the two monsters vanished into the air. The only clue that they had ever been there was a slight black smudge on the ground where each of them had stood.

Slade observed this with fascination. The power of his new creation was all he had hoped it would be. Gizmo had done his job well.

"Nicely done, Wrath. I don't think I could have done it better myself." Slade complimented. Then, Slade quickly ducked to his right as Element's stone fist moved through the air where his head had been a moment before.

Element had formed to the stone of the dirty floor beneath him and had snuck up on Slade, hoping to take the madman down before he could give his brother's new form any further orders. Without Slade to command him, Gamer might be able to go back to his human form. But Slade had sensed him at the last moment and dodged his attack.

Slade took a few jumps back, to distance himself from the teen, and when he steadied himself, he took out his odd blaster again and fired. The blast came out like red lightning, crackling across the distance between himself and Element.

The blast hit Element square in his rocky chest and despite his great mass and weight, the boy was picked up from the blast and hurled into the nearest wall with an impact that echoed throughout the chamber.

Element coughed a few times, shifting his body back to its fleshy form. Hearing footsteps, he looked up to see Slade now standing over him, aiming his blaster down at him.

"Allow me to give you some important advice, boy: being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be." Slade said with a hiss, preparing to squeeze the trigger.

Defiant and unwilling to be patronized even at the end, Element spoke what he supposed could very well be his final words.

"Coming from a loser like you that actually makes me feel better about having been one." he said. Not the most elegant or historic of responses to make, but one that suited him just fine. He stared coldly back into Slade's equally cold, gray eye, waiting for the pain that he knew was coming.

Gamer, in the form of Wrath, merely looked on with sad eyes, knowing Slade was about to break his agreement and that he was about to watch his brother die. He had all the power in the universe in this form, but without an order from Slade, was powerless to do anything.

-BOOOM!-

A large explosion rocked the lair, startling Slade into loosening his grip on the blaster's trigger. Element took the opportunity to slip into the ground beneath him, moving out of danger.

Slade turned and looked toward the entrance to his lair. A large and smoking hole had been made in the wall where the entrance had been, enlarging the entrance and making it impossible to conceal. Stepping through the smoke, the remaining five Titans focused their attention on what they saw before them at the other end of the large room; Slade holding an odd looking gun of some sort and a boy emanating a strange glowing light from his body. Of Raven, Element and the Gamer, there was no sign.

Holding his staff ready, Robin shouted over to his long-time enemy.

"Looks like you need a new door, Slade."

Slade folded his hands behind his back and turned to his adversaries, his eye narrowing as he smirked behind his mask.

"Hello Titans. You're just in time. The party has begun, but fortunately, you haven't missed out on the main festivities." he said smoothly.

Terra stepped forward to confront her former master.

"Yeah yeah, enough of the metaphoric chatter, Slade. We're here for our friends and we're not leaving without them!" she shouted. Starfire could not have agreed more, hovering in the air with her eyes glowing a dangerous green.

"Yes, enough of the bovine droppings! What have you done with our friends?!" she demanded.

"Where Raven and Element are, I'm afraid I honestly can't say." Slade responded, actually turning his head one way and then the other as if actually looking for them. Then he turned back to them menacingly.

"But as for the Gamer, he's right there." he said, pointing to where Wrath stood.

"Gamer, is that you?" Robin inquired. The boy in question gave no response. "Gamer, answer! Is that really you?" he asked again.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were confused and a little worried. They played videogames just as much as Gamer did, even though they weren't as good as he was. If that truly was Gamer in some game form, they did not recognize it… and they knew every game there was.

"Oh, I'm afraid he doesn't answer to you anymore, Robin." Slade stated matter-of-factly. "His new form is designed to only take orders from me. And with the power he now has, I can have him do anything I want him to do. Perhaps you'd like an example? Wrath: Throw them all across the room." Slade ordered.

On command, Wrath raised his arm again, just as he had for Cinderblock and Plasmus. Without warning, a huge yet silent concussive force hit the Titans with the force of a battering ram. All five of them were knocked from their positions and slammed against the nearest wall.

Moaning in pain and using his staff for support, Robin slowly climbed to his feet, looking over to Starfire to make sure she was alright. Though just as sore as he was, the alien girl offered him a brief look as she rose to her feet, letting him know she was fine. Robin turned back to Wrath and Slade.

"Gamer! What's happened to you?!" Robin questioned of him. Slade shook his head.

"You always were slow to learn, Robin. Always denial with you. Even with that example, you refuse to accept that I now command your friend into doing anything within my imagination. Wrath: shower them with shards of ice from clouds of fire!" the maniac commanded.

Again, Wrath raised his hand palm up, as if bringing an audience's attention to the Titans. With a sudden –whoosh- sound, three clouds appeared over the Titans' heads.

"Um, dudes… I think we're in trouble." Beast Boy said meekly, eyes wide with astonishment. He and Terra wrapped their arms around each other as they stared up towards the ceiling.

The clouds seemed to be made of fire. Flames and smoke formed three patches in the air, perfectly contained within themselves, attached to nothing. Like three campfires that had been suspended in bubbles or something.

As if this wasn't bizarre enough, shards of ice suddenly began to fall from these impossible clouds.

"Titans, duck!" Robin ordered, pulling his cape over himself for cover. Starfire quickly ran to him and crouched down next to him. Robin pulled the cape over her as well. Cyborg placed his arms over his head to shield the fleshy parts of his face, while Beast Boy turned into a tortoise and hid himself inside his shell. Terra fractured the stone ground with her power and summoned the pieces over her head to provide her own protection.

The needle sharp pieces of ice fell across the covered Titans, breaking against their coverings, but a few stray pieces managed to get through, and cut Terra's left arm, Robin's right cheek, and make a rather jagged gash across Starfire's exposed back. After a moment, the ice stopped falling and the clouds of fire winked out of existence.

Slade began walking forward towards the cowering Titans.

"Do you understand now my young friends? This is where your time ends. I will use your own teammate to serve me, and I will use his power just enough to weaken you all so that I can finish you off myself." he threatened.

Robin stood to his full height again, re-drawing his staff. Twirling it, he took a fighting stance.

"I don't think so, Slade. If you're going to be a coward and hide behind Gamer, then I guess we'll never know which of us was best in this final battle." Robin taunted, hoping to get Slade to fight him without using Gamer's new powers. If the little display he'd put on was any indication, Gamer did indeed now have the ability to destroy them all with a whim if Slade ordered him to.

"Why Robin, is that a challenge?" Slade asked, pulling his own staff and extending it. Robin only narrowed his masked eyes.

"Yeah, it is." he said plainly.

Cyborg charged his cannon and stepped forward.

"We're all ready to take you down, man." the cybernetic teen said.

Beast Boy took his own fighting stance.

"Yeah dude. We've had enough of you always trying to take over one of our team. You're going down for good this time." and he morphed into a gorilla.

Terra's eyes glowed yellow and she summoned many rocks to her.

"And I've got some payback to get." she threatened.

Starfire summoned starbolt energy into her hands.

"We shall do the kicking of your butt!" she proclaimed.

Slade narrowed his eye and began to run toward them.

"Enough talk. Let's finish this!" he bellowed, and then poll-vaulted into the air with his staff and came down with a kick toward Robin. Robin back flipped out of the way as Slade's boot dug into the ground he'd been standing on.

The Teen Titans readied to charge forward, prepared to fight Slade for the last time. Robin turned to look back at his team.

"Starfire, Beast Boy, you two go over and try to snap Gamer out of it. Knock him out if you have to, since he won't act unless Slade orders him. But just make sure he stays out of the fight." he ordered. He turned back just in time to see Slade running towards him again, about to swing his staff forward.

But then a pair of dirt arms shot out of the ground and grabbed Slade's legs, causing him to stumble and fall right onto his masked face at Robin's feet. Robin was shocked to say the least, and watched as Element pulled himself from the ground.

"About time you guys got here." Element said to them, sounding annoyed as always. Robin shook himself out of his shock.

"Element, where's Raven?" he demanded. Element pointed to the back of the large, dark room.

"She's back there. She's alright for now." he told his leader. Robin nodded.

"Ok, you go with Beast Boy and Starfire to help your brother. Cyborg, Terra and I will deal with Slade. Now go!" he shouted, as Slade shot back up to his feet. The evil man swung his staff at Robin, who barely managed to get his staff up in time to block the attack.

Starfire, along with Beast Boy and Element, flew over to where Wrath stood, motionless. He would not even turn to look at his friends as they stood around him.

"Gamer, can you understand me? It is I, Starfire, your friend." Starfire tried to reach him.

"Hey, bro, snap out of it. Change back to normal." Element said to him. Gamer continued to ignore them, simply standing still like a statue.

"Dudes, this isn't working." Beast Boy reasoned. "Robin said to just knock him out so he can't answer to Slade if we can't make him snap out of it." Beast Boy then turned into a gorilla and tried to deliver a chop to Wrath's neck, just enough to knock him out. His green gorilla hand smacked into the other boy's neck like he was hitting a brick wall.

"Rawr!" he roared in pain and pulled his hand back. He then swung his fist to hit Wrath in the back of the head. The result was a crunch as his knuckles popped and nearly broke.

"Let me try." Starfire said, as she swung with alien might at Wrath's face. Her fist connected with is chin, but did not cause any effect whatsoever. Being hardier than Beast Boy, she was not hurt, but neither was Wrath. Her fist didn't make his head budge by so much as a millimeter, never mind knocking him out, and the sound it produced was like a clap of thunder.

Element again transformed himself to stone from the ground beneath him and began punching his brother's body all around, trying to subdue him. Wrath just stood there, not in the least affected, as Element's fists eventually began to crack and fracture. Seeing that it was no use, Element ceased the attack.

"We've got to figure out some way to get him back to normal. If Slade is the only one who commands him, we have to trick Slade into ordering him to change back." Element suggested. Beast Boy wasn't so sure.

"Dude, are you kidding?! This is Slade! How are _we_ going to trick _him_ into doing anything?"

To this, Element shrugged.

"I haven't figured that part out yet."

Slade ducked and weaved through the barrage of stones that Terra sent flying his way, dodging every one of them that he could and batting away the ones he could not with his staff.

Cyborg ran towards him, firing his sonic cannon all the while. Slade managed to deflect the shots away while blocking the rocks, until Cyborg came close enough. Then Slade shoved his staff under Cyborg's armpit, then jumped into the air, flipping over the tall teen to land facing his back. Slade then brought the staff, which was now bending back over Cyborg's shoulder, flipping over the teen's body as well, the other end of it snapping forward from the bending force and hitting Cyborg in the back with an impressive impact that sent the teen flying. Cyborg cried out in surprise and indignation as he flew through the air and smacked into a wall.

Slade then turned and thrust the staff up as he blocked a hit Robin was attempting to make with his own staff. As he blocked the younger warrior's weapon, Slade brought the other end of his staff low and forward and hit Robin in the back of the knees, causing the boy to collapse to the ground. Before Robin could roll out of the way, Slade kicked him in the side, sending him sliding away from him.

Slade then did a series of back flips toward Terra, who was still trying to shower the madman with rocks. Once he was close enough, Slade propelled himself into the air at the end of his flip and came down swinging his staff again, this time smacking Terra across the face with it and knocking her away too.

Slade then reached into his belt and pulled out a remote, pressing the button on it. All at once, from out of the shadowy hidden doors located all around the outer edges of his lair, his robot minions began to surge forth. There were dozens and dozens of them, and they circled the entire area, surrounding the Titans.

Starfire, Beast Boy and Element, who had been running to join the battle with Slade, stopped and looked around them at their opponents.

"Is anyone else getting tired of these guys?" Beast Boy asked. Element bopped him on the back of the head in irritation.

"Attack!" Slade ordered, and the robots charged forward. Each Titan began to deal with several robots at once, while Robin, back on his feet, charged Slade, determined to keep his fight with him.

Starfire flew overhead, blasting away wildly with her starbolts, trying to destroy as many of the robots as she could. But with so many of them, her efforts were not helping as much as she'd liked. After a moment, a few of the robots below her raised laser pistols from their belts and began to fire back at her.

"Eep!" Starfire cried, and now began to dodge the return fire.

Element kept changing his constitution one moment after the next, trying to be as unpredictable as possible to take down lots of robots in a short amount of time. He'd form to the dirt on the ground and make himself float through the air in a dust cloud, enter the robot's system through its joints and attempt to clog it up with dirt and short it out. Then he'd change to the metal of that robot and go to the next one and battle it hand to hand, crushing its head in with is metal-enhanced strength. Then he'd sink into the ground, move directly underneath a robot and thrust his fists upward, hitting it and launching the minion into the air, where it would hit one of the many turning gears along the ceiling overhead. And so on and so forth.

"Roooaaaarrrr!" Beast Boy was in tiger morph, swatting with paws the size of frying pans at every robot that was dumb enough to come within reach. Simply knocking them aside was usually enough, but when one got close enough to actually land a punch or try to scratch him with its own sharp fingers, Beast Boy would extend his feline claws and scratch the robot's metal skin away and rip out its wiring. Some he would even bite the heads off of with his powerful tiger jaws.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg shouted, as he blasted another robot away with is sonic canon. Cyborg was cutting loose with is entire arsenal. A few miniature missiles that he'd stored in his arms and legs were flying around, destroying one robot with each impact. From his shoulders and knees, small flying saw blades shot out, cut through the air for about twenty feet and decapitating several robots, before returning to their storage slots on his body. He was also using his great strength to hurl robots left and right as they kept coming and coming.

Terra was bringing rock after rock down upon the robots that got closest to her. Sometimes she'd open up a deep hole that was just wide enough for the robot to fit into it underneath her attacker. After it fell to the bottom of this pit, she would close it up all the way, crushing the robot inside with tons of dirt and rock.

Robin was battling Slade one on one like always, and he wasn't having any more luck than he had in the past when battling him, but he was nowhere near ready to give up. He would try to hit him with his staff, try to punch and kick him, threw bird-a-rangs and exploding disks at the man. Slade got hit a few times but not nearly enough, while almost all of Slade's attacks hit home to Robin. Still, the leader of the team kept going, determined that this battle be the last one he ever have with Slade.

And through it all, Gamer stood silent and still in the form of Wrath. Inside he was desperate to help his friends, his new family, but outside he was completely motionless, unable to lift a finger if Slade did not command it.

--

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lair, hidden from all the action, Raven began to stir for the first time. She slowly opened her eyes, winced, then opened them again. She felt incredibly tired and extremely thirsty.

She looked around and noticed that she was next to a rocky wall. Reaching up with one hand, she grabbed onto a part of the wall that stuck out enough to grasp and slowly began to pull herself up. When she was in a sitting position, she turned her head to further look at her surroundings.

She was still in Slade's lair. There was a strange light being cast from somewhere around the corner near her, as well as a great deal of noise that sounded like an intense battle being fought. Placing her hands on the ground, she began to pull herself forward, determined to get to the corner of this little alcove she was hidden in and see what was going on.

As she reached the end, she peered around and looked into the main part of the lair. There she saw the rest of her team battling Slade and a great deal of his robot minions. She was relieved to see that Element was ok and seemed to be holding his own quite well. The others seemed to be doing just as well, except Robin, who was having difficulty handling Slade.

Then, Raven's eye caught onto the boy who was standing away from the action, shining a brilliant white light from his body. Remembering the game case that Slade had shown her, she understood immediately who this was.

"Gamer." she said softly. He had returned after all. Returned to help her and Element, and had fallen right into Slade's trap. She had not been awake to hear what the specifics were, but seeing him, she knew that somehow Slade had taken control of him, and would use him to accomplish his own ends. For right now, however, Slade seemed to be content to finish them all off on his own. While she was sure that the others would take care of all the robots eventually, they'd surely be exhausted after doing so, and Slade would deal with them after finishing off Robin.

Raven knew she had to help them, but she didn't know how. She'd be able to wrap all the robots in her power and crush them into tin cans if she wanted to, but she was drained from that device that Slade had captured her with. She didn't have enough energy to help her team fight.

However, maybe there was something else she might be able to do. She closed her eyes and focused, trying to sense out Element's mind. She'd use her remaining power to ask him if he knew of anything she could do without fighting to bring the situation under their control. Maybe Slade had some sort of control device for Gamer and she could find it and destroy it somehow. Anything that could help.

She focused and focused. Now it was coming, her slowly returning energy had reached just enough that she could stretch out with her mind. She sensed her team, sensed their minds and their emotions. She could sense Slade's as well, repulsive as that was to her. She could even feel an energy spike around all of the robot minions. Flexing her mind for all it was worth to try and open communication, Raven continued to focus and stretch her mind out. She could feel the people in the city above them now. And then, she could sense… someone else.

Raven's eyes snapped open in surprise. While it should not have been a surprise, Raven had completely forgotten in all that had been going on, and was still caught off guard. Now Raven knew how to help. An opportunity to shift the fight into their favor had presented itself.

If she had not been focusing all her energy into her powers, Raven might have smiled. Who'd have thought that Gamer would have been right? It surely seemed that he was now. Concentrating, Raven sent a clear message.

_Here. We're right here. Yes, directly below you, right there!_

She projected a mental arrow with the last of her energy. Then, with that done, she placed a hand to her forehead from the stress, and then collapsed, exhausted. After a moment, she drifted off into unconsciousness, drained. Her last thoughts were that she hoped her effort would pay off, and that they'd all be ok when she woke up again… if she ever woke up again.

--

The battle raged on, and thought the Titans fought valiantly, they were beginning to tire of their task. Slade had unleashed his full army on them and the constant effort to destroy them all was beginning to take their toll, just as Slade had predicted.

He had thought he might need to use Wrath in order to dispose of the Titans at last, but was very pleased that he would not need to. He had hoped that he would only need to show them that Gamer was now under his control and that with his new power he would undo everything they had dedicated their lives to achieving for the world. He had impressed that upon them, and now would eliminate them without his new servant's help. He'd finish them off himself, just like he should have done a long time ago.

Swinging his fist into an uppercut, Slade punched Robin hard in the stomach, causing the boy to double over. With the wind knocked out of him, Robin fell to his knees, wheezing and trying desperately to get some air back into his lungs.

Slade stood over him, ready to bring his staff down upon the boy's head, now bent forward, so that the blow would connect at the spot where Robin's skull connected with his spine.

"It's been a fun game, Robin. But this is where you lose." he said coldly. He brought the staff up, about to slam it down with the full measure of his enhanced strength. And that was when the world fell apart.

At least, that's what it seemed like to Slade, and to all of the Titans. There was a sudden, violent eruption of debris from the ceiling, right next to where Slade and Robin were dueling. Smoke and dust filled the air as pieces of rock and brick and pipes and gears were propelled to the floor of the lair as if hit by a massive hammer from the surface.

Slade's eye widened in surprise and confusion by this unforeseen occurrence. The other Titans paused in their battle with the minions as well to observe what had happened.

Although he was not sure what had caused it and could not really see through the still falling dust and grit, Slade was aware that a large amount of debris was what lay beyond the thick cover of swirling smoke, the outer edge of which was about ten feet away from him. Robin was looking up at this point, also wondering what caused this sudden cave-in.

Narrowing his eye, Slade dismissed whatever had happened and turned back to Robin, wanting to finish him off before he got too distracted and provided Robin a vulnerable target. He raised his staff again…

-Tssseew!-

A blast of purple energy shot out of the cloud of dust and hit Slade square in the back, knocking him through the air right over Robin. The Boy Wonder turned his head to see Slade hit the closest wall and rather hard too.

The Titans all gaped back at the cloud of dust and debris where the cave-in had occurred, but could still see nothing. Impatient, Terra used her power and waved all the dust away from the debris pile, clearing the view.

The eyes of all the Titans widened and their jaws dropped, as there on top of the pile of debris, having rammed full force into the ground and right on down to the lair, emerald green suit now mostly covered in dust… stood Blackfire.

Blackfire's eyes glowed purple with energy as she looked away from where she had blasted the man who had been about to attack Robin and began scanning the large room for Gamer.

"Sister?" Starfire asked, the first to break the silence. "What are you doing here? How did you find us?"

Blackfire ceased her scan for Gamer and turned to look at her younger sister.

"I followed Gamer here. I wasn't going to just stand by and let him go into battle alone, not after all he's done for me. I've been up there for an hour, but I didn't know where to go. Luckily, Raven just sent me a telepathic message that told me where this place was." Blackfire explained.

"Raven!" Element said sharply. She must have regained consciousness while he was doing battle with Slade's army! The boy quickly formed to the air in the chamber and the hair of the Titans nearest him waved as he headed off to where he had left his girlfriend hidden.

"Blackfire?"

All of the Titans turned their heads in surprise to where the voice had come from. Wrath had actually turned his head and looked at the girl on the debris pile, Gamer's consciousness having recognized her.

Robin and Cyborg looked at each other in surprise.

"He spoke!" they both said at once.

Blackfire looked upon Wrath, and though he was difficult, she recognized him.

"Gamer? What happened to you?"

"Slade forced him to turn into a game character." Terra answered for her, indicating Wrath with her arm. "His power is totally under Slade's control. He can't do anything unless Slade says so. But then again, he did just speak for the first time just now."

Suddenly, Starfire's eyes widened and she quickly turned away from Wrath to look back at her sister.

"Blackfire, perhaps he will listen to you now that you are here. Perhaps you could reach him, even without an order from Slade."

Blackfire nodded and began to step down from the pile of debris she had created when she crashed through the roof of the lair, slowly approaching Gamer.

Up to this point, the Sladebots had been motionless, analyzing this new arrival. It was not one that was programmed into their circuits, but calculating what this new being had done upon her arrival, that she had attacked their creator and that she seemed to be on speaking terms with the Titans, their limited reasoning power told them that they should continue the attack.

The robots moved toward the Titans that were closest to them, and the Titans were momentarily caught off guard, having forgotten about the robots with Blackfire's sudden arrival. But their vulnerability did not last long and the battle resumed.

Slade pulled himself back up, shook his head to clear it, opened his eye only to see Robin standing in front of him, looking up at him.

"Enjoy your nap?" Robin asked, and then the next thing he saw was the bottom of Robin's boot, and then stars. Staggering back, Slade held his head again, then took a fighting stance, prepared to continue his battle with the Titan leader.

Blackfire moved closer to Wrath's position. A few robots decided to attack her, but she blasted them away from her with starbolts without really giving them much notice. Wrath did not move toward her, but his head was still turned to look at her from the position he had been facing.

Element meanwhile knelt over Raven's body, checking her pulse and her breathing and determined that she was merely unconscious and that she would be so for several hours. She must have exhausted whatever energy she had regained since he'd disconnected her from her bonds in order to bring Blackfire down here.

Element smiled, proud and admiring that she'd make such a sacrifice. He reached under her shoulders with one arm and under her legs with the other, lifting her up off the ground. He would take her out of here now, get her back to the tower so that she could recover. With the arrival of Blackfire, things had made an unexpected turn, and Element believed that somehow the Titans were going to win this fight, Wrath or no Wrath.

Looking back at that battle and trying to determine how he'd get Raven out of here without any robots or Slade noticing him and forcing him to fight, he noticed Blackfire was almost within arm's reach of Gamer now.

He looked down at Raven in his arms, wondering if she knew that her decision to tell Blackfire where they were, despite her history with the Titans, might have been one of the wisest choices she'd ever made.

Blackfire came to a stop in front of Wrath and stood looking at him, concern plainly seen on her face. As well as something else. Caring perhaps. Hard to tell with Blackfire, who had never cared for anyone but herself before. But her time spent with Gamer since her return to earth had… changed something.

"Gamer? Are you alright?" she asked, thinking about what Terra had said. He did not answer her, but he did turn his body all the way to where he was fully facing her.

"Gamer, change back to normal. This isn't who you are, and game character or not, I know you would never let anyone order you around like that. You only take order from Robin because you respect him and believe he's worthy of your obedience. This Slade guy isn't worthy of your obedience." she attempted to get through to him.

"Blackfire…" Wrath said, seeming as if he was trying to say something else as well, but nothing came.

Upon hearing Wrath's voice, Slade turned his head away from Robin, with whom he was having a contest of brute strength as the two were trying to push each other's staff away from themselves. Slade looked back and saw that Wrath had turned and was now facing the girl who'd broken into his lair, and that he had in fact spoken to her.

"Please Gamer," Blackfire continued, "change back to who you are. Come back to me."

Wrath looked down at his feet for a moment, then back up to her.

"I… want… to." he said slowly.

Slade's eye widened in shock and worry.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, having just knocked another robot away from himself as a panda bear, had been listening in to what Blackfire and Gamer were saying, and looked over to where Robin and Slade were fighting. Upon seeing Slade's eye go wide when Wrath spoke, Beast Boy suspected what was coming next, and saw his chance. Changing into a cheetah, he ran over to where Wrath was as fast as he could.

"Wrath!" Slade shouted, hoping to stop what he suspected might end up happening, "Do not change back to your normal form!" he ordered.

However, Beast Boy had gotten there faster and had changed back to normal by the time Slade had finished saying "Wrath!" He had then plugged Wrath's shining ears for a second, cutting off the "Do not", and then unplugged them, so all Wrath heard was "Change back to your normal form!"

The light shining forth from Wrath intensified, seeming as if it was covering him rather than coming from him. Everyone watching could see something happening within that light, but could not see what. Then the light faded, and standing there, controller in hand, was the Gamer.

At once, Gamer collapsed to his knees, taking deep breaths. Blackfire knelt down and placed and arm around his shoulders.

"I'm here, Gamer. You're alright now." she said, reassuringly.

"No!" Slade shouted in rage. He shoved Robin's staff away and kicked Robin in the groin.

"Oof!" Robin grunted, folding over in pain. It had been an extremely unfair and uncivilized attack, but Slade didn't care. He began to run over to where Gamer and Blackfire were.

Gamer raised his head up and looked Blackfire in the face, alarm plain as day in his eyes despite the sunglasses that shielded them.

"The throne chair! Get to the throne chair now!" He demanded, pointing across the room. Blackfire backed up a step in shock, but then noticed where he was pointing and flew over to where Slade's chair was.

She saw a case lying on one of the arms of the chair, with the picture of a glowing being on the front of it and the words _Divine Wrath_ at the bottom.

"Destroy it!" Gamer shouted, desperate.

Nodding, Blackfire picked up the case and opened it, taking out the game disc within. She summoned starbolt energy into the hand that held the case, melting the plastic away and burning the picture on the front, destroying its label forever.

She then flung the disc into the air like a Frisbee and fired her eyebolts. The beam of purple energy sliced through the air and hit the disc, burning and charring through it so intensely that after a moment only ash remained of it.

The one of a kind game, the final creation of the late boy genius Gizmo, was destroyed entirely. With the only copy of it gone, the game now no longer existed, and now not even the Gamer could change into the title character from it. Wrath, Slade's ultimate weapon, was no more.

"No!" Slade bellowed again, having arrived just in time to be too late. Blackfire turned to fight him, but was caught off guard by Slade's speed. He kicked her in the head and sent her rolling across the floor.

The girl put her hands under her, preparing to push her self to her feet as she coughed on dust. Slade pulled the blaster from the back of his belt, pointed it at Blackfire and squeezed the trigger. A red electrical current shot forth, wrapping around Blackfire and burning through her body. The agony was incredible and Blackfire began to writhe and scream.

"Nooo!" Gamer yelled, now on his feet and running toward Slade's back, swinging his controller around in circles above his head and ready to wrap it around Slade's neck and choke the criminal to death with the cord.

Without even looking over his shoulder, Slade lashed out behind him with his left leg and kicked Gamer in the chin, knocking him back and sending him across the floor. Slade continued to fire on Blackfire, not giving the current a rest for a moment.

"You must stop!" Starfire screeched, now zooming down from the sky with her fist out, about to punch Slade's head down into his shoulders. With his free hand, Slade reached into his belt, pulled out a disk and threw it up into the air, where it hit Starfire in the forehead. The disk exploded, sending Starfire flying back through the air until she hit a wall and collapsed to the floor.

At this point, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Terra were dispatching the last of the Sladebots. Their bodies were lying around in piles as the Titans had managed to take most of them out on top of each other, what with the machines constantly rushing forth to fill the spot where another of their brethren had just been.

Now with the last of them defeated, they turned their attention to the goings on. Seeing that Blackfire was in trouble, Starfire and the Gamer were down, Robin was across the room and Element and Raven were nowhere to be seen, they knew they had to intervene.

Cyborg gave a bellow and charged across the room. Terra lifted pieces of rock from the collapsed pieces of the ceiling and sent them flying at Slade as Beast Boy turned into a hawk and began to do attack dives on the madman.

Slade managed to shrug off the rocks pelting him and swatted Beast Boy out of the air, but due to their attacks, was too distracted to do anything about Cyborg, who hit him with his shoulder like a freight train and knocked him way over into the back corner of the lair.

Gamer managed to get to his feet and wobbled over to where Blackfire lay still, curls of smoke rising from her body. Starfire and Beast Boy got to their feet as well and began to make their way toward Blackfire and Gamer, being joined by Terra and Cyborg as well.

Coughing and shaking his head, Slade looked up to see that he had landed in front of Element and Raven. The girl was laying unconscious on the ground with Element leaning protectively over her, glaring at Slade from behind his mask. Slade glared back at him and got to his feet. He still clutched the strange blaster weapon in his hand and now pointed it right at the two.

Element braced himself, preparing to take a phenomenal amount of pain from what was probably going to be a fatal attack, determined to protect Raven as well as he could from the initial blast, and hope that one of the others would be able to stop Slade before he could fire it directly at her. This was it.

Slade's eye was narrowed in cold rage.

"You-" he began, about to squeeze the trigger. But he could not say anymore as seemed to stumble forward a step, his eye suddenly looking up, confused, shocked and worried. The blaster dropped from his hand and he reached up, almost over his shoulder, like he had an itch on his back that he was trying to reach.

Then, with a look of confused resignation, Slade slumped forward and fell on his masked face in the dirt. He did not move, and Element could clearly see why. The bird-a-rang had embedded one of its sharp edges right into the back of Slade's neck. The other sharp wing was sticking up, showing off its deadliness.

Element looked up from this scene across the room, his gaze being followed by the other Titans as well. Robin lowered his arm from the position it had been in when the weapon had left his hand to make its fateful meeting with Slade's flesh. The Titans were too stunned to say anything, as Robin slowly began to walk forward, stopping once he was next to Slade's dead body.

Robin seemed to be breathing hard, but was slowly calming down. The look on his face seemed rather… lost. The other Titans began to gather around him, looking down at Slade before looking up at their leader. Robin looked back at each of them in turn, before looking back down at the body.

"I didn't see any other way. He wasn't going to stop unless it came to this, and he was about to… I couldn't let him hurt my friends again." he said, feeling like he needed to justify it to himself more than to the others. But nobody said anything to rebuke him. They all knew and understood why he had done it. Element looked him in the eyes and slowly nodded. Starfire put her hand on Robin's shoulder, her expression compassionate, as Robin looked at her and finally seemed to relax a little.

"It's done then." Terra said.

"Blackfire?" they heard Gamer say. Turning around, they saw their friend on his knees, leaning over Blackfire, who still had curls of smoke coming from her. Gamer placed a hand behind her head and tried to help her sit up a little.

"Blackfire, say something. Are you going to be alright?" he asked desperately. He didn't know why he'd asked such a stupid question. She'd just been shot by huge power current. If she was going to be alright, it would be a while before she was.

Slowly, Blackfire opened her purple eyes. She didn't seem to be able to focus on anything at first, but after a few seconds, she realized that she was looking up at the Gamer.

"Gamer?" she whispered. Gamer smiled from ear to ear in relief.

"You're awake! You're ok, that's good." he said, still at a loss for any intelligent comments. Blackfire tried to look around, but couldn't focus.

"What happened? Did I help you to win?" she asked. Again, Gamer smiled.

"You sure did. It's over because you helped turn the tables on him." he informed her. Blackfire seemed to nod.

"That's good. I couldn't let you face it alone. Not after all you've done for me. I had to help you." she confessed. Gamer shook his head.

"That's stupid, Blackfire. You didn't have to risk yourself to help me. I did what I did for you because I wanted to. You don't owe me anything for it." he said. But Blackfire shook her head at him.

"No, you're wrong. I did. You're the only person who's ever been a friend to me, and the time we've spent together was the best time I can remember. I did have return it, for how you've made me feel. Because I… I love you Gamer." Then her eyes began to close again.

"I love you too, Blackfire." Gamer said quickly, so she'd hear it before passing out. He didn't know if she had, but he hoped so, and that she'd keep it in mind until she woke up again.

The other Titans stood watching all of this, their mouths falling open a little upon hearing Blackfire's little confession, and Gamer's response. Apparently the two had really bonded during their time away. Blackfire's efforts to help them at the end seemed to lend credibility to what she said, and they began to realize that they'd have to seriously start reconsidering what they thought about Blackfire. Clearly, Gamer had helped to change her.

Gamer was now holding Blackfire's unconscious body to him, hugging her with his forehead resting against hers. Walking up next to him, Starfire knelt down until she was eye level with him and gave him a smile.

"We will nurse her back to health at the tower, Gamer." she told him.

"Thank you, Star." he replied in gratitude.

Element stood up and joined the group, Raven in his arms.

"We'd better head back. These three are going to need rest." he said to them. Robin nodded to him.

"You carry Raven back, Element. Starfire, you carry Blackfire, Beast Boy, you help Gamer back." he said to his team.

Nodding, Starfire took her sister from Gamer's embrace and lifted her in her own arms. Beast Boy helped Gamer to stand. Gamer was tired from all his transformations, especially from exerting himself using Wrath's powers. Beast Boy placed Gamer's arm over his shoulder to help steady him and began walking him back. The four were joined by Element, still carrying Raven in his own arms.

As they headed for exit to the lair, Starfire turned back to the three remaining Titans, who had not moved.

"Friends, are you not coming home with us?" she asked them.

"You go on Starfire. We'll be along in a few minutes. There's something I have to do." Robin said. Terra nodded next to him.

"Me too." she said. Looking at his two friends, Cyborg shrugged and looked back to Starfire.

"Guess there ought to be at least one other witness here." he said. Nodding her understanding, Starfire turned back around and continued to carry Blackfire home.

After their friends had left the lair, Robin, Terra and Cyborg all turned and looked down at Slade's body. They were silent, none of them needing to say anything about what they were about to do.

Robin knelt down and pulled the bird-a-rang out of Slade's neck, feeling a chill run down his spine at the feel of it being pulled free. He could not bring himself to wipe off the small amount of blood that clung to it. This bird-a-rang had tasted blood, had ended a life. Yes, the situation had required it, but Robin had still used it to kill someone. He would never use it again. He would retire it and lock it up in the archives, a permanent reminder of the day he had removed the threat of Slade forever.

Placing it back into his belt, Robin then placed his hands under Slade's body and rolled him over onto his back. He then stood up to his full height and looked at his two friends.

"Anybody have any objections to this?" he asked, making sure at the last moment that there would be no regrets. Cyborg and Terra both shook their heads, their expressions set.

Looking back down at Slade, Robin reached down and pulled off the mask.

* * *

That is the single longest piece of writing I've ever done. And man did it take me a while to complete. I wanted to have the whole story finished by March 23rd, the two-year anniversary of when this story was published, but stuff kept distracting me, and so this chapter and the final chapter were severely delayed. However, even as this chapter is being posted, I am already writing the final chapter, and it is much shorter than the last few have been. So the next update for this story, which should be coming in only a few days from this one being posted, will be the last one.

In the next chapter, Raven, Gamer and Blackfire are healed and rested, and now the Titans have to start thinking about the future. A few hard decisions are going to be made, but in the long run, it may be for the best. Be sure to come back one last time for the final chapter of Element and the Gamer: New beginnings. See you guys then!


	15. New beginnings

Element and the Gamer

**Element and the Gamer**

**By**

**Teen Tyrant**

Thanks go out to everyone who's ever read and reviewed this fic. Thank you so much for your time and enjoyment of this work.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

* * *

Chapter 15: New beginnings

The sun rose on another beautiful day in Jump City. Slade's defeat had left a sort of unspoken agreement of peaceful times in the city again, and everyone was enjoying their weekend.

A few days had passed since the final battle with Slade, and life in Titans Tower was mostly returning to normal. Robin and Starfire were spending their time together training, packing up all the information and clues of past Slade cases to be put away for good, and a few occasional make-out sessions when no one was around watching.

Cyborg was back to working on a way to portal over to Steel City to see Bumble Bee anytime he could, and had continued his daily talks with her on his personal screen monitor.

Raven had recovered after a good day's rest and lots of water to drink, and was back to meditating in her spare time, either in her own room or in Element's. The two were spending as much time in their own spiritual union as they could, knowing how close they'd come to losing each other.

Beast Boy and Terra, as usual, were playing video games or springing practical jokes during the few occasions when they were not making out.

The only little cloud hanging over the tower was that Blackfire had not yet woken up since the battle, but Cyborg's readings had shown conclusively that she was doing just fine and could wake up anytime, good as new. The Gamer, after he had gotten his own rest, had barely left the side of her med bed. Starfire also made frequent checks on her sister, just to make sure that she was really ok.

There had been some talk among the Titans, excluding Gamer, about what to do with Blackfire. Everyone, even Robin, had to admit that Blackfire had done a heroic thing, charging in like she had, attacking Slade, defeating a few of his minions and helping to get Gamer back to normal. She had even eliminated the Divine Wrath video game, and taken the brunt of Slade's fury for it. And of course, confessing to having grown to love Gamer for the time they had spent together. And Gamer apparently shared the feeling.

So then what to do? Blackfire had certainly earned her right to stay on earth now. Gamer would obviously want to keep her around as well. And, if this was but one instance of a possible future for her in being a hero, then it was possible that she might even be made a Titan, if she expressed interest in being so. However, this created a complication.

When Blackfire had first arrived, there had been no place to put her. She had spent her time sleeping at first on the sofa, then on a spare mattress Cyborg had pulled out of storage for her, but there had been no real permanent idea of where to keep her while she was still on probation. And now that she had proven that she really could be trusted to remain on earth, a place for her to stay had to be found. But there was no more room in the tower.

Two extra rooms had to be made just for Element and the Gamer when they had arrived, and that had taken a while to complete. But there were no other places to put any extra rooms. Every room now had either a Titan residing in it, or was used for some other purpose, like storage, evidence or training. What were they to do with Blackfire?

Fortunately, Cyborg had come up with a solution. It had taken some explaining, and then a bit of talk with Robin and the other Titans, but an arrangement had been settled on, should Blackfire choose to take it. They would present her with the opportunity once she woke up.

--

The sun coming in through the windows stung her eyes a little as she opened them. Blinking a few times until her eyes got used to the brightness, Blackfire looked around at her surroundings.

She was in the medical room at Titans Tower, just as she had been when she woke up after first arriving back on earth. Looking to her right, she saw that Gamer was next to her bed, his head and arms on the side of it, asleep. He had been there when she woke up the first time those weeks ago, and now he was here again. She smiled.

Slowly, for she was still a little weak, Blackfire moved her hand closer to his until she took his hand in hers and gently squeezed it. He stirred, feeling her touch on his gloved hand, and lifted his head up. Once he was fully aware, he lifted up his sunglasses and looked at her.

"Blackfire, you're awake." he said, grinning. She nodded at him, then frowned.

"How long was I out?" she asked him. Gamer's smile left and was replaced by a look of confusion.

"Um… I'm not sure myself. I've been in here most of the time. I think… maybe three days or so." he said, before shrugging and looking back down at her. He then leaned further over her.

"You had me really worried there, you know. I thought Slade might have caused some permanent damage. But Cyborg says you're going to be alright." he informed her.

"Good," she said. "But I still feel a little weak. And hungry. Guess I can expect that after being out of it for days." she said with a grin. Gamer smiled back at her, squeezing her hand, harder.

"Blackfire, you almost got yourself killed. For me. You know what that makes you, right?" he asked. She shook her head, confused. Gamer only smiled again.

"That makes you a hero. You really helped save us, helped us win." he said. Blackfire actually began to blush a little.

"Really? Hmm. It doesn't feel as weird as I thought it would." she said.

"Nah, it doesn't feel weird at all. It feels great to do things for others rather than for yourself. You'll love it." he said, his smile never fading. Blackfire smiled back.

"Maybe so." she then lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek. "I just know that I had to help you." she nearly whispered.

"Because you love me." Gamer said with a huge grin. Blackfire pulled back surprise.

"Did I really tell you that, or was I just dreaming it?" she asked, confused again. Gamer nodded, his eyes shining. Blackfire blushed again and closed her eyes, chuckling to herself.

"Oops. I was going to wait until after the fight to tell you why I came back. But, I guess it's out now." She then leaned in a little closer to him.

"I do love you, Gamer. I don't know when it happened, but you've been so wonderful to me since I've been on earth, the thought of anything happening to you hurts me. I've heard that that is one of the warning signals of love, so I guess it's true, because it started to hurt when you left, asking me to stay behind while you risk yourself. All I could think about was helping you and not letting you out of my sight again. So, as weird as it sounds coming from me, I love you Gamer." She was still blushing and looking him in the eyes. Gamer placed his own hand on her cheek now.

"I love you too, Blackfire. For pretty much all the reasons you said there. When I went to face Slade, I knew that it wasn't enough to save Element and Raven. I knew I had to survive whatever waited for me, to make it back to you. I guess I've had a soft spot for you for a while now, but I didn't know that I actually loved you, not until you said it. But I knew I had to say it back, because it was true. I love you, Blackfire." Gamer confessed.

Realizing that they were both done with the speeches of why, they leaned in and softly pressed their lips against on another's. They stayed that way for a few moments, separating briefly to allow themselves to catch a breath before continuing the kiss.

Eventually they parted, neither having anything to really say, just staring into each other's eyes, grinning like children.

"Ahem."

Their eyes going wide, both turned their heads to look over at the entrance to the med lab. The other Titans stood in the doorway, where they had arrived after Starfire had attempted to enter, only to realize that Blackfire was awake. She had gone to let the others know without announcing her presence, wanting to give her sister and Gamer a few minutes alone now that she was awake. Gamer and Blackfire had been too busy with each other since she woke up to notice anyone else being nearby.

The two blushed fiercely and chuckled in nervousness and embarrassment. Then, Gamer stopped for a moment and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, how long were you guys standing there?" he asked, wondering if they'd heard what he and Blackfire had been saying to each other before they kissed. Raven actually seemed to smile a little.

"Long enough." she said. Gamer's face fell. That settled it. They'd heard them say their little love speeches alright.

Starfire stepped forward, keeping her excitement over the apparent new relationship between her sister and one of her best friends to herself for the moment.

"How are you feeling, dear sister?" she asked. Blackfire stretched out her arms, tried flexing a little, then clenched her hand into a fist.

"Well, I'm still a little weak, and very hungry, but beyond that I think I'm ok. I don't feel any pain." she said. Cyborg stepped forward and began checking her readings.

"Yeah, I figured you'd be up and about at any time now. Tamaranians recover from burns a lot faster than humans do, so you should be fine. And it's almost lunch time, so we'll be able to get you some food real soon." he said to her.

"Thank you." Blackfire said, very grateful at the idea of getting some food. The Gamer looked at Robin.

"So what happens now?" he asked.

"Well," Robin began, "We've all done some thinking. Blackfire, we all agree that your efforts to help us the other day show that you have real courage and selflessness in you. We've agreed that you should be allowed to stay on earth if you want. And considering what you did and how our friend Gamer feels about you, we hope you do." he said. Gamer grinned and looked at Blackfire, squeezing her hands in his with excitement. Blackfire smiled back. Robin continued.

"We also agree that, considering your heroic actions out there, and the fact that it would certainly make… whatever you and Gamer are going to be now a lot easier, that we'd offer you the chance to become a Teen Titan if you want." he said.

Gamer's eyes lit up. Blackfire was astonished to say the least. They had suggested that to her once before, but that was before they had known what she was like. Now, after all the trouble she had caused for them in the past, the Titans were actually offering her the chance to be one of them for real. Realizing that, Blackfire became aware of just how much she really had changed from all her time spent around Gamer. Yeah, it was only a little for right now, but she had laid her life on the line to save him. The Titans saw now what Gamer saw, that there must be something more inside her worthy of bringing out.

"Wow." she said, breathless. "I… I don't know what to say you guys. I-" She looked at Gamer, who was still grinning ear to ear at her. His eyes gave her an I-told-you-that-you-could-do-it look. She smiled at him again, then looked back to Robin.

"Well, if you guys really think I can do it… and if you really want me… then, I accept." she said with a shrug, hardly believing that this was happening.

Robin nodded and Starfire could restrain herself no longer. Beaming happily, she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, not wanting to hug her for fear of hurting any remaining injury.

"Congratulations Sister!" she said loudly.

Blackfire looked at her little sister, then down at her hand which was on her shoulder, and felt the old familiar rage and resentment start coming to the surface. But before it could come out, she stopped it, trying to restrain herself and calmed down. She looked from Starfire, cheerful and loving, to Gamer, who's grin had vanished and was looking at her with a troubled expression. He knew her reasons for always hating Starfire, and had encouraged her to settle things up between them. With everything else in her life changing, could that also be one of them? Gamer seemed to be hoping that she would do just that, but Blackfire didn't know if she was ready for that yet.

So, rather, she turned back to Starfire and tried her best to put on a sincere smile.

"Thank you, Starfire." she said. If Starfire could tell that most of it was forced, she did not show it, and continued to smile happily. Gamer turned to look at Robin.

"Where's Blackfire going to stay?" he asked his leader.

"Well," Robin began, "That's the one complication. There's no more room for another person in the tower."

"So what happens?" Blackfire asked. She was confused as to how she could be one of them if she had no place to stay with them. Cyborg then clued them in on the solution.

"Well, I did some talking with Bumble Bee, and the Titans East still have just the original five members on their team, with plenty of room for expansion. So, if you really choose to accept being a Titan, we can relocate you to the Titans East team in Steel City and work with them." he informed them.

Gamer's eyes lit up for a second, knowing that there was a place for Blackfire to go, but then his face fell. He looked at Blackfire and she looked right back, sharing the same expression. Steel City was literally on the other side of the country, slightly further away than Gotham. If Blackfire moved in with the Titans East, she and Gamer would not be able to see each other on a daily basis. They'd be stuck having the same long distance relationship as Cyborg and Bumble Bee were currently having, only able to go out to see one another whenever an opportunity presented itself. Even if Cyborg completed his portal device, conditions would still have to be right to allow for a trip over, unlike simply staying in the same location together.

The other Titans noticed this look the two shared, and had expected that this would complicate things for the two. It was not a perfect solution, they knew, perhaps not even completely fair to the two, but it was all they could think of. Robin decided to let them know the full situation.

"We realize that that would mean the two of you would be living in different cities, and we're truly sorry about that. But this was the only solution we could come up with. Even if you don't accept our offer to join us, Blackfire, we don't have any place to keep you here. You'd have to stay somewhere in the city." he said.

Blackfire nodded, understanding the predicament. She and Gamer looked each other in the eye again, neither saying anything, lost in their own thoughts about what this could mean and how this would affect the relationship that it looked like they both wanted to have with each other. Finally, Blackfire sighed.

"Thank you for the offer, and for trying to think up a way for me to stay on earth you guys. I know I'm probably not worth it from all the problems I've caused you in the past, but I really appreciate that you want me to stay. But… being away from Gamer on a long-term basis… I don't…" she stopped, thought to herself, then sighed again.

"I'm going to need some time to really think about this. Gamer and I are going to need to talk." she said. Robin and the others nodded.

"Take all the time you need." he said, respectfully. Beast Boy smiled at her and Gamer.

"Yeah, no pressure. Just think it over and let us know." he said. Starfire moved away from the med bed and back to her friends, trying to herd them out of the room.

"Let us give them the space for now, so that they may do the talking about this." she said, trying to give her sister and Gamer time alone right away. Cyborg called out as Starfire was shooing him away.

"I'll bring you some food shortly, Blackfire" he called out.

"Thank you." Blackfire called back.

Element walked back in a moment later before his brother and Blackfire could begin talking. He must have slipped into the wall, let Starfire and the others pass him, then come out again to rejoin them. He looked at them for a moment, then walked up next to Gamer, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"So you know," he said, "They aren't trying to keep her out of the tower. We all really talked about it and agreed that she could be one of us, and she'd be allowed to stay here if there was room." He then looked at Blackfire directly. "We really do want you to stay with us Blackfire. Gamer was right about you all along, and we respect that. Know that." he said.

Blackfire nodded her understanding and Element nodded back. He patted his brother on the shoulder and Gamer smiled at him.

"Thanks bro. Oh, and no hard feelings. You know, about that…" he then made a little punching gesture, recalling how when he'd left with Blackfire a couple weeks ago he had actually punched his brother in the face. Element actually smiled back at him.

"No, no hard feelings. Forget about it." he said. Element then turned around and exited the medical room, leaving the two alone.

"I guess I've got a big choice in front of me." Blackfire said with a sigh. Gamer nodded and took her hands again.

"Yeah, I guess you do. Just know, Blackfire, that whatever choice you make, I'll support it. I'd really like you to be one of the Titans, because I know you'd make a great one. But if you turn it down just to stay here in Jump City to be closer to me… well, it may be a bit selfish of me, but I'd like that too. Whichever one you choose, I'm with you." he said, looking into her eyes.

Smiling, Blackfire leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"I know you are." she said, closing her eyes and smiling. Then her eyes snapped open.

"Whichever I choose, you're with me?" she asked. She said it in a way that suggested she was trying to make sure she'd heard him correctly. Gamer raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Yeah. I'm with you, whatever you decide to do." he restated. Blackfire was looking at him intensely now, a sly, secretive smile beginning to form on her lips.

"You're with me no matter which choice I make." she stated. Gamer was confused now, and just nodded back. But Blackfire's grin kept growing, as the idea that had just formed in her head kept getting clearer.

--

In the common room kitchen area, the Titans were just finishing up lunch, bringing their empty plates to the sink where it would be Raven's turn to wash them. Cyborg had brought Blackfire a plate loaded with sandwiches and chips a little while ago, for which she would be eternally grateful.

When he'd returned to the kitchen, the others had all looked at him expectantly, like maybe Blackfire had told him her decision while he'd been in there. He'd told them that she and Gamer had stopped talking when they heard him coming, and he didn't know anything about what they were going to do.

"So, what do you guys think?" Terra asked her team. "You think Blackfire will choose to be a Titan, even if it means being away from Gamer most of the time?"

Raven nodded back to her, getting out the sponges and wash rags she'd need to clean the dishes.

"I think she'll definitely do it. I can feel the emotions coming from her and Gamer, and they're serious about what they've said, about how they feel about each other. And Gamer really has felt that she could be one of us for a while now. He'll talk her into taking it even if it means them being apart. It's not just enough for her to be his girlfriend; he wants her to be like us, because he knows she can be." she told the others, beginning to apply soap to the dishes.

Starfire clapped her hands at this, a huge smile on her beautiful face.

"I too always felt that Blackfire could be like us, if she chose to do so. I know that she has been the villain for a long time, but that is mainly due to the rivalry she felt that the two of us had during our upbringing. I always knew that if she were shown a better path and were properly guided, she too would have a hero's heart. Our friend the Gamer has apparently become that guide. And now Blackfire is not only becoming a hero, but has also developed the feelings for Gamer! It is truly a wondrous time for my sister." Starfire began giggling with joy, thinking about the possibilities that lay before her formerly sinister sibling.

The common doors swooshed open and the Titans turned to see Blackfire and the Gamer enter the room, hand in hand. A few of them smiled at that. Now that they were looking at them this way, Blackfire and Gamer actually seemed to make a cute couple. The "bad girl" and the good boy image they gave off really suited them.

"Well, it's decided." Gamer said to the group.

The Titans's eyes widened a little, and they all leaned their heads forward, waiting to hear what the two had to say. Raven stopped scrubbing plates and rejoined the group, standing next to Element and taking his hand. Seeing that they had the group on edge, waiting anxiously, Blackfire decided to just go ahead and break the news.

"I've decided to accept the offer to join the Titans and accept membership with Titans East." she declared.

Smiles spread across the Titans's faces and a few cheers even rang out, mainly from Starfire, Beast Boy, Terra and Cyborg.

"That is most wonderful, Sister!" Starfire beamed.

"Alright! Welcome to the Titans!" Beast Boy said.

"That's good to know. I'll let Bumble Bee know you'll be joining her team after all." Cyborg said. Robin was actually a bit surprised.

"You know Gamer, I'm actually surprised you'd go along with that without losing your cool. I know you want to be with Blackfire, and if Starfire had to relocate, I don't think I'd be able to take it." he said.

Gamer smiled to his leader, to his brother, to all of them. It was not a very happy smile.

"Well, there's a reason why I'm ok with her choice to take up with the Titans East. I'm going with her." he said.

This caused all the Titans to stop in their smiling, and to look at Gamer in shock. But nobody was more startled than Element, who actually let go of Raven's hand at the news. He took a step forward.

"What? You're going with her?" he asked, unable to believe that the had heard correctly. Gamer nodded.

"We've been together every day since she came back to earth. I'd been hoping that she could end up becoming one of us, and now that it's happening… we just don't want to be apart now." he said, looking at Blackfire, who squeezed his hand affectionately.

The Titans were silent for a moment. Nobody knew what to say. Gamer was leaving? Again? Only this time, it was not merely stepping out for an unknown amount of time, to return later when he felt that it was time. This would be officially moving away and becoming a member of another Titans team. They'd be losing their teammate and friend knowing that he would not be returning to their ranks.

"Oooookay. Wasn't expecting that." Robin said. Although now that he thought about it, he was mentally beating himself up. Why hadn't he thought about this before? He and the others had never even taken the possibility that Gamer might choose to leave them to remain with Blackfire into account. Yet it seemed so obvious a possibility.

"I'm sorry guys." Gamer said apologetically. "But this is the way I want it. Blackfire's got a real chance for a new, better life now, and I want to be there with her as she goes through it."

Blackfire lowered her head a little, feeling monumentally guilty.

"I'm sorry to be taking him from you guys. I really don't want to cause anymore problems for you, but-"

"Hey, none of that." Beast Boy said. "We all understand. Don't we you guys?" he asked, looking around. Terra, Raven and Cyborg nodded right away. Robin and Starfire took a moment longer, but they each gave it some thought, realizing that they'd do the same thing for each other if it came to it, and nodded as well.

Element did not nod. It was not that he did not understand. He understood better than any of the others. He and Raven were unified; bonded so specially that no other two beings could ever compare to it. He'd blow up the world before letting that go. Moving away from the others for it was not even a problem. It was just the news that he and his brother were going to be separated permanently was hitting him hard and he could not respond. While he would have left Gamer for Raven if need be, he honestly could never see a situation which would require it. Now that a situation had come up where Gamer would be leaving him… it was knocking him for a mental loop.

Element felt an arm go around his waist and looked to see Raven, looking at him, understanding and compassion in her violet eyes.

--

It was two days later, all preparations were made, and Gamer and Blackfire were about to leave. Bumble Bee had arrived that morning to fly with the them back to Steel City. All of Gamer's possessions were in a moving truck and already on their way there.

The Titans were all gathered on the rooftop of the tower, about to bid farewell to their friend and their newest member. In the two days since coming to their decision, Blackfire had officially been made a Titan, given her own communicator, and all the other Titans throughout the world had been made aware that she had joined their ranks and that she and Gamer would now be part of the East team.

"Don't forget, when you stop by, we are all going to the arcade." Beast Boy was saying to the Gamer. The green Titan looked very down, having one of his good buddies about to leave.

"What's the point, BB? You're going to lose against me no matter what." Gamer explained. Beast Boy shrugged.

"So what? At least it'll be like old times, right?" he said. Gamer nodded, understanding, then shook hands with the smaller Titan, and then received a hug from Terra.

"Good luck, Gamer. It's been a blast. I'll miss your jokes. They were disgusting, but hilarious." the blonde said, trying to hold back tears. She was a tomboy, after all. It wouldn't be her style to be crying, even at a time like this.

"Thanks Terra." Gamer said with a smile. Robin stepped up next and held out his hand, which Gamer shook.

"It's been great having you, Gamer." Robin said, smiling with respect to his friend. Gamer nodded.

"Yeah, it's been great to be here. Thanks for letting me be one of you. And, I'm sorry about… you know." he said, inclining his head slightly towards Starfire.

With Robin and Starfire having been official for months, and Gamer now crazy about Blackfire, it was hard to believe that the two of them had ever had a friendly competition for Starfire's attention. It actually seemed kinda silly now to the both of them, as if they should have known from the beginning that things would turn out this way.

Stepping back, Robin allowed Starfire to say goodbye to Gamer, and she did in typical Starfire style; by throwing her arms around him and squeezing until his eyes nearly popped out of his head. She was trying to hold back tears, both of joy and sadness.

"I shall dearly miss you, Gamer. You have been a wonderful friend to me. It shall not be the same without my number one fan around to keep me company." she said, sniffling. Once she released him and he got his breath back, Gamer smiled at her.

"It'll be alright Starfire. I'll miss you too. By the way, you do know that I was your number one fan because I had a huge crush on you, right?" he asked, wondering if she ever really caught on to that, even though he had once asked her if she'd be his girlfriend.

"Yes, I am aware of your reasons why." she said with an affectionate smile. "And do not worry. I do not consider our friendship the least bit awkward because of it."

"Well, that's a relief. I'll miss you Star." Gamer said.

Turning now to Element and Raven, who stood next to each other, Gamer stepped forward and shook Raven's hand first, knowing that she wasn't the type to accept hugs.

"Bye Raven. It's been a pleasure." he said. Raven nodded at him.

"Take care of yourself, Gamer. And visit when you can. Just don't expect me to go for a car ride for you when _you_ are the car." she said, reminding him of the time that he had driven her, Element, Beast Boy and Terra to the mall while in the form of a car from _Grand Theft Auto_.

Gamer blushed a little at that and laughed for a moment.

"Don't worry. I won't." he said. Gamer then turned to Element, who had remained silent throughout. The two brothers just stood and stared at each other a moment. Then, knowing Element wasn't going to be the initiator, Gamer stepped forward and threw his arms around his twin's shoulders in a hug. After a moment, Element hugged back.

"Bye, bro." Gamer said, not knowing what else to say. Surprisingly, Element had something to say.

"Listen," he began, "Just take care of yourself, alright. And come back as often as you can. I'll be fine and I know you will too, but we need to keep in touch. This separation thing can only go so far for us."

Gamer nodded, knowing exactly what Element meant.

"Right. I was thinking the same thing. You take care of yourself too." he said, before playfully punching his brother on the shoulder. Turning around and walking back to where Blackfire was waiting, Gamer stopped for a moment to look at Raven.

"And look after him for me, will you?" he said to her with a grin. With a sly grin of her own, Raven gave a small nod to him.

As Gamer returned to her side, Blackfire stood with her head down. Having watched the whole scene with Gamer and Element, Blackfire wondered what was wrong with her. Why couldn't she have had the closeness with Starfire that Gamer had with his own sibling. A feeling of sudden regret clutched her heart and she longed for the strength and the will to make things right, while she was still here and there was still time.

She felt Gamer take her hand and squeeze it. She looked at him and found him looking back at her, a knowing look in his eyes, as if he could tell what she was thinking. His eyes seemed to give her encouragement to do it now. Nodding softly, Blackfire removed her hand from his and took a couple of steps forward.

"Starfire?" she said, getting her sister's attention. Starfire turned away from Robin, whom she was leaning against for strength to keep from crying at Gamer's imminent departure, and looked at her sister. She was surprised to see that Blackfire seemed shy and hesitant.

"I'm… I'm sorry for everything. Everything bad that's happened between us. All the fights, the deception, the hate, turning you over to the Gordanians, being so cruel to you. I'm sorry for all of it." Blackfire finally said, her words heavy.

Starfire's mouth fell open. She gaped at her sister, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. The moment that she had long dreamed and hoped for was actually happening, right here and now. Blackfire continued.

"Gamer's told me about how you still want to have a real sister relationship with me, even though I've done all of that to you, and how you don't hold all of that against me even now. That you don't hate me." Blackfire looked up from the ground that she'd been staring at and looked Starfire right in the eyes.

"I always felt that you were my enemy, because of how everyone else treated you like you were better than me, and it only made me hate you more that you still wanted to be my friend in spite of all that. I felt like you were condescending to me." Blackfire swallowed hard, then continued on.

"But… if it's not too late, and you still want for us to be like real sisters… well, I'd like for us to have that too. I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you. If you can forgive me, I'd like start over between us. Can you forgive me at all?" she asked.

Starfire's mouth slowly closed, though her lips began quivering. The tears of sadness that she'd been trying to hold back now began to slowly creep forward, only now they were of joy, not sadness. Starfire gasped, trying to speak, but finding that she had no air for her words to travel on, and so sucked in air instead. She then tried again.

"Oh Sister… of course I forgive you! I have longed to hear you say that you wish for us to be like normal sisters! I never thought this day would come, but…" she had to stop there. Starfire flung herself forward and wrapped Blackfire in the biggest hug she could manage, and since Blackfire was also Tamaranian, it did not crush her, and she hugged back with equal might, a relieved smile playing at her lips and a single tear falling from her eye.

"Whenever Gamer comes back to visit, I'll come along, and we'll have some real girl time. Just the two of us." Blackfire said. Starfire pulled back a little and smiled at her.

"That would be most wonderful." she said, wiping away her tears of joy.

Releasing each other, the two stepped back to the respective boyfriends, who looked at the two of them with proud smiles that they'd finally decided to put their conflicting history behind them.

Cyborg was off to one side, talking with Bumble Bee this whole time, which was why he did not partake in any of the goodbyes.

"So you've got rooms picked out for them? The rest of the team is ready to have two new members?" Cyborg was asking, just making double sure that Titans East was prepared to take care of Gamer and Blackfire.

"Come on, Cy, I told you that it was fine. If anything, I think they'll be glad that we're getting more help. Aqualad and Speedy and Mas y Menos can't talk to each other, all I do is give them orders, so Aqualad and Speedy have nobody to hang out with but each other, and they can't really stand each other. I'm hoping Gamer breaths some fun life into our Tower." Bee said. Cyborg laughed at that.

"Oh, he'll do that alright. You have no idea. But if you or any of them like to play video games, here's one bit of advice: don't bother. Gamer's already got you beat." he said with a smile. Bee laughed now.

"Ok, got it." she said. Then she turned to more personal subject. "So, when's the next time you'll be able to come out to Steel City?" she asked in a flirtatious tone. Cyborg grinned.

"Oh, I think I can arrange some time. Although it would probably make the most sense for me to come out whenever Gamer and Blackfire come over here to visit. At least until I get my transporter working." he said.

"Well," Bee began, "Make sure you finish it soon. In the meantime, drop by when you get a chance. This long distance thing is really making it hard for me to officially ask you out." Bee smiled at him after saying this. Cyborg blushed a little on his human side.

"Don't you mean for me to ask you out?" he asked. Bee shook her head.

"Nope. I meant what I said and I said what I meant." she then grinned at Cyborg, leaned up as far as shook could, and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

"If you want it to go further than that, I suggest you get that teleporter finished and start dropping by every day. We'll go from there." she said, before turning around and heading over to where Gamer and Blackfire stood. "See ya later, Sparky." Cyborg was left with an enormous grin.

"You two ready?" Bumble Bee asked. Blackfire and the Gamer both nodded. "Alright then, let's head out." she said, before spreading her wings and taking to the air. Gamer looked at the rest of the team.

"Well, I guess this is it. Bye you guys. It's been a blast." he said. Blackfire grabbed him by the hand and began to rise into the air, taking the Gamer with her.

Bumble Bee waved her hand down at the original Titan team.

"Later, y'all!" she called, and began flying in the direction of Steel City.

Blackfire and the Gamer both began waving with their free hands, and Gamer called out his farewell to all of the Titans.

"Bye Cyborg! Bye Beast Boy! Bye Terra! Bye Raven! Bye Robin! Bye Starfire! Bye Kyle!" he called, saying goodbye to Element last and using his real name. All of the Titans waved back, even Raven and Element. They watched as their three friends shrank in the distance until they finally disappeared from sight. It was then that Starfire's tears of sadness finally broke through, and Element's shoulders fell with a sigh.

--

It was night, but the Gamer couldn't sleep. He and Blackfire and Bumble Bee had arrived at the Titans Tower East hours ago, and had been given a warm welcome. All the other members were glad to meet them and looked forward to having them on the team. He and Blackfire had both been shown rooms where they'd be staying. Gamer would begin setting up when the truck carrying his stuff finally arrived, and Blackfire would need to begin purchasing things for her own room. A welcoming party had even been thrown, with Speedy having made barbequed chicken for dinner and a massive chocolate cake for dessert. All in all, it looked like he and Blackfire were going to do fine here.

The Gamer stood on the roof of the Tower, able to see clearly with the full moon and the lights of the city shining all around. He was looking west. Both of his former homes lay in that direction. His childhood home in Piedmont Colorado where his parents were, and Titans Tower in Jump City, where his brother and his second family were.

A tear slipped from his eye, thinking about how he'd once again had to leave home and loved ones to begin a new life that might be better than the last. The problem was, this time, he did not have Element with him. That was the one truly dark cloud about it.

He and Element had _always_ been together. That time he'd taken away from the Titans with Blackfire was the longest they'd ever been away from each other in their lives, and he'd known that it wouldn't be permanent. That'd he'd be back and see his brother again.

But this time, it was different. Final. He was living here, and Element was living there, and that was the way it was now. For the briefest of moments, Gamer began to ask himself why. Why did he do this, why separate himself from his twin like this? What was worth that? But, the answer to why was suddenly standing at his side, having joined him on the roof without him even noticing.

"You miss him, don't you?" Blackfire asked him, seeing the sadness on his handsome face. Gamer nodded.

"I'm sorry that I took you away from him." she said, looking down at her feet. Gamer turned to her.

"Don't be. If I didn't think you were worth it, I wouldn't have done it. I want to be with you, Blackfire. Everything I've thought about you has been true. You even made up with Starfire! You don't know how proud I am of you for that." He then reached out and took her hand in his own.

"I'll hurt for a while, but it'll go away. I might not have Element with me, but I'm not alone. I've got you now. And there's a bond that you and I can have that I could never have with Element. It'll be different from what I know, but I'll get used to him not being around." he said. Blackfire nodded her understanding, and put her arms around him.

"I hope someday that Starfire and I can have a bond like you and Element have." she said. The Gamer smiled into her shoulder.

"I know you will." he whispered back to her.

--

It was night, but Element couldn't sleep. He stood on the roof of the Tower, looking east. His blood family was out there. His twin brother on the other side of the continent, his parents in between here and there. Everyone he'd grown up knowing and loving for the first sixteen years of his life were no longer in his life on a day to day basis.

"You miss him already, don't you." she asked. Of course, Element had known she was there. Had known that she'd come up to join him. He didn't turn around to face her, but continued looking east.

"Yes. It's harder than I thought it would be. I always knew this day would come." he said. Raven was standing at his side now, looking at him, ready to offer her comfort should he accept it.

"All the years I questioned the reason for my life, the purpose of living in a purposeless world, all the nonsense everyone would always tell me about the point of living your life. I was able to keep going on in it, even though I'd long since given up, because Gamer was with me. He understood. He didn't agree, but he understood me. We'd been together through _everything_. We watched you guys have your first battle as a team together. We got our powers together and moved here with you together." Now he looked at Raven, sadness plain even from behind his mask.

"I always knew a day would come when Gamer and I could not stay together anymore. That even as twin brothers, we had to move on and start our own lives apart from each other. I knew that that was the way it worked, the way it had to be, and the way it was going to be, whether I liked it or not." he said.

He then sighed and took a seat on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling off. Raven also sat down next to him, her bare legs also hanging off the roof.

"But knowing about it and actually going through it… it's very different." he said, sounding defeated.

Raven nodded. She'd felt the same way on her birthday, when she knew that the prophecy about her life was going to be coming true soon. Knowing about the inevitable and then actually facing it were monumentally different. She reached out and took Element's hand.

"Do you regret not going with him?" she asked. She was not asking to question if his staying with her was worth losing his brother. She knew the answer to that. She just wanted him to speak it for himself, so that he'd feel better about the situation. After a moment, he answered.

"No. I've been more at peace here than I ever have in my life. You are the main reason for that, Raven. But also being around the others helps." he sighed.

"I can get through this. It's all just part of growing up. Siblings say goodbye and go their separate ways. I already did it with my parents, and now my brother. I'll adjust and adapt." He then turned and looked her in her violet eyes. "And I have you, Raven. As long as I have you, it doesn't matter what else happens in my life. I know I can get through anything." he said. Raven smiled back at him, feeling the exact same thing he felt.

She rested her head against his shoulder, and he leaned his head to where it rested atop her own.

He would be alright, he knew. His brother had made his own decision for what would make him happy, and he knew it would be alright. He would see his brother again. Nothing would keep them apart forever anyway. And they were only teenagers. They had a long path still ahead of them, all of them. They were Element and the Gamer. They were Teen Titans. And this was just the beginning of their lives.

**The End**

* * *

And so, my friends, we finally come to it. The end of this story, which has taken me two and a half years to complete. Two and a half years ago today I started this, and even though long amounts of time went by between posts, it has always lingered in my mind that I needed to finish it, and that I wanted to finish it.

The reason it took so long, even though the story was half done within the first six months, was simply that life started to change a little for me. I finally got a girlfriend, who is still with me even now as I write this, and it has totally changed my life. All the romantic stuff I had written before September 2006 was based entirely off of what I had read or heard or seen, but not from any personal experience. Now, I have had that experience with love, and needless to say, it can distract you. That's the main reason why I went nearly a year between two chapters on this story, and why many months went by before posting other chapters. A few other reasons came up; video games, Star Trek dvds, what have you, but mainly it was that.

Now to finally explain a few things. The concept of Element and the Gamer came to me in the spring of 2006. I had just started to really get into Teen Titans in a fanatical way, since I knew it had now been cancelled, so I couldn't get enough of it. Robin and Starfire was my main fascination, with Beast Boy and Raven slowly gaining the runner up position. I had already written a Valentine's Day fanfic called The Last Candy, and I discovered that I wanted to write more. More than that, I wanted to write a fic based on a character of my own design, one who was like me. But this presented a few problems.

First, I didn't know what power to give them. I wanted to first give them a power that was like Element's. I got the idea from watching Ang Lee's version of _Hulk_, where Hulk's father can turn into things he touches near the end. But then, after reading a fanfic where the Teen Titans meet Ben 10 and Ben explains that his power is to turn into aliens due to a device, I realized that I'd like to have a character with a device that turned him into something specific. I just didn't know what. Then in reading a story about Control Freak, I also wanted that character's device to allow him to control things, but again, only something specific.

The answer came to me when I decided to go back and play some old games that I hadn't played in a while. It was _Turok 2: Seeds of Evil_, on Nintendo 64. I love that game, and have played it perhaps more times than any other game I own. It was while I was playing the third level and was up against a Pur-linn- Juggernaut, and I realized how cool it would be if someone could turn into one of those things. And that's when it hit me. A Teen Titan who could turn into characters from video games. And since I was playing Nintendo 64 at the time, I decided to go with an N64 controller as the weapon that allowed him to do so.

So I now knew the powers to use, but I couldn't decide which one; an element absorber or a video game transformer? Upon reading a fanfic called Ten Leisurely Days by Blue Ten, the most awesome story I've ever read, about Teen Titans or anything else, I saw two characters he made that were twin brothers. And that's when the other part of the problem was solved. I would make two characters, twin brothers, each of them with one of the powers I wanted to use. And I could give them both the two sides of my personality. One would be happy, carefree, love video games and lazing about, and the other would be all bummed out about life and wondering what the point of it all was, which is the same kind of issue I was going through at the time (though not anymore once I met my girlfriend).

And so that's where the concept of this story first came from. The romances, Slade's role in it, all of that was just to give it a plot, although I wanted Slade's mysterious plan to seem big, like the plot of 10 Leisurely Days. I also wanted to write about someone besides Robin and Beast Boy going after Starfire and Raven respectively, and so I brought in Terra to stick Beast Boy with, and had Element go after Raven and the Gamer go after Starfire. Of course, I couldn't let anyone but Robin have Starfire, so I brought in Blackfire to be redeemed and end up with the Gamer.

That's where this whole, long-lived project came from. Now, I know a while back that I said I'd be doing two sequels to this story. Well, I think I'm still going to. But it's going to be a while. I still have other fics I need to finish and a few smaller ideas that need to see life. But I'm not going to abandon the world in this story, just like I didn't abandon the story despite the long waits in between. So for those of you who look forward to seeing these characters again, they'll be back someday. And it'll be more focused on the Titans as a whole, rather than just on Element and the Gamer. For this story, I focused on them because it is their story, their rise to becoming part of the Titans universe.

And now, time for thanks. This goes out to all of the people who ready and left reviews for my fic to cheer me on. Thanks go to: Agent of the Divine One, flowers of heaven, Wingz, Girl at Heart, SoulReapor, skye668, Ace234, Vampiro101, fanficprincess101, Spiketv58 (now known as 514442), mattchew, longhairedhorse, Glacier alchemist, TTrunks and totallyrae. And of course, let's not forget this story's two biggest fans and two of the most supportive people I know. Death Jester, thank you for all your suggestions, your compliments and your imput, buddy. And finally, the biggest fan I have, InnocentStarInTheAnimeSky, known as TitanGirlzRox when this story began. Thank you for all of your support for this story. I haven't heard from either of these two in over a year, but I do so hope that they'll be able to come back someday and read the rest of this story that they gave me so much credit for.

Thank you so much, all of you who read and reviewed this. I know it is not the best story. In fact, if fanfics were to be given grades, it's probably a C-. But I had fun writing it, and I hope you had fun reading it. After two and a half years, it is finally done and I can move on to finishing my other fics and trying my new ideas. Thank you one last time for your patience and for enjoying whatever you enjoyed about Element and the Gamer. This is Teen Tyrant, signing out… for now. Bye guys!


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